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vibrato of course. All strings with mutes. Viola passages use a little vibrato,
but with discretion. 25
Maconie was evidently pleased with his striking music for this sequence, which was
comparable to some of the music used in Hiroshima Mon Amour. The idiom was
contemporary, and reflected Maconie’s preference for a small number of instruments
with emphasis on timbre and crisp rhythms. (Stravinsky had for some years been his
favourite composer.)
For Sequence 4, “Mud Scene and Chase” Maconie was even more specific, detailing
the ways in which he hoped that particular bars would be played.
The instruments should all play loudly, though with mutes and left pedal for
pno [sic] and the technician should keep the overall sound level down to what
suits. Pno should not dominate. NB Viola and cello Bars 21 – 23 and cello 25
– 28 should if necessary be turned up a little. Piano up for bar 40 only. [Cello
and violins] bars 47 & 50 should sound frenzied and unclear. String 52 – 57
use all the bow – savage strokes on the strings. Cuckoo clock sounds from
piano must be well in the b/ground – they lighten the mood but mustn’t
dissolve the tension. 26
When Maconie’s music arrived in Wellington it was recorded by a group of musicians
from the NZBC Symphony Orchestra at Broadcasting House under the baton of
Patrick Flynn. (The organ passages, played by Brian Findlay, were recorded at the
Wellington Town Hall.) They too had limited experience with film music. Flynn had
a stopwatch in one hand and a baton in the other.
[He and his musicians] set out to fulfil Robin’s intentions with an accuracy
involving fractions of a second … Flynn found during the recording sessions
that human error as to tempo can err. “The stopwatch showed,” he said, “that
although the players were absolutely certain they had kept up a steady beat,
they were often lagging about ten seconds at the end of a passage”.