Douglas Lilburn: A Song of Islands; Aotearoa Overture; Forest
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Composer: Douglas LilburnConductor: James Judd
Orchestra: New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2006-09-26
Music Label: Naxos
Soundtracks:
- Aotearoa, overture for orchestra
- A Birthday Offering, for orchestra
- Drysdale Overture, for orchestra
- Forest, tone poem for orchestra
- A Song of Islands, tone poem for orchestra
- Festival Overture, for orchestra
- Processional Fanfare, for orchestra
Music reviews of Douglas Lilburn: A Song of Islands; Aotearoa Overture; Forest
Music Review: New Zealand's Greatest Composer
Rating: 5 Stars
There is no question that Douglas Lilburn (1915-2001) is New Zealand's greatest and best-known composer. And if there is a quintessential orchestral work by Lilburn, it is his 'Aotearoa Overture' which has been played all over the world, and recorded several times by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the group heard on this CD. It has been noted many times that 'Aotearoa' (which is a Maori word meaning 'land of the long white cloud') is very reminiscent of the music of Sibelius. Lilburn studied in England under Vaughan Williams at a time when the music of Sibelius was exerting enormous influence on English composers. If one did not know who the composer was, one might very well think it is unknown Sibelius piece. And since it is a musical landscape it has connections with similar Sibelius works. More important, it is an entirely lovely work and as far as I'm concerned one of the great short non-European orchestral works. I've loved it for thirty-five years and was thrilled to hear this fine performance by the NZSO under its music director, the Englishman James Judd.
Just as exciting, though, is the collection of otherwise relatively little-known works by Lilburn (little-known outside New Zealand at least). All but one are fairly early works; indeed two of them -- 'Drysdale Overture' (1937) and 'Forest' (1936) -- are student pieces, although you probably wouldn't recognize it on hearing them. 'Drysdale' is named for the farm in the central plateau of New Zealand's North Island on which Lilburn grew up. It has two main themes, one of them limning the landscape and the other a reminiscence of native lullabies that Lilburn's mother sang. 'Forest', a quarter-hour tone poem, describes an autumn landscape of a mountain in South Canterbury. There are typical Sibelian pizzicato basses that tread delicately through the first part of the work, but one can hear Lilburn's distinctive voice emerging. The piece won a competition for a work on New Zealand themes sponsored by Percy Grainger.
'Festival Overture' (1939), also a prize-winner, depicts the national spirit as the newly consolidated nation of New Zealand approached the War. It is both minatory and celebratory. 'A Song of the Islands' (1946), written after Lilburn had returned for good to New Zealand, is a quarter-hour tone poem in arch form that was inspired by a painting by New Zealand's Rita Angus depicting a church, cottage, barn and furrowed fields against a background of sea and snowy peaks. There is a haunting oboe melody that figures heavily in the work, along with a kind of breathless admiration for the scene depicted. The work has a sense of ultimately fulfilled anticipation, partly described through long-held harmonic suspensions, that is striking.
'A Birthday Offering' (1956) was written for the tenth anniversary of the founding of the National Orchestra (now the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra) and sounds a little like Copland, with wide-open harmonies, along with what sounds like a tale-telling mood. The last-written work recorded here is the short 'Processional Fanfare' (1961, rev. 1985) composed by Lilburn while he was professor at Victoria University in Wellington. It is, as one might guess from its title, sometimes used as a processional at graduation ceremonies and it features three trumpets and strings calling out, among other things, variations on 'Gaudeamus igitur', the student song well-known from Brahms's Academic Festival Overture.
The performances by the very fine NZSO are all one could want. My copy of the CD had some sporadic problems with mistracking, a defect I assume was unique to my copy. Otherwise sound was lifelike. For those who are drawn to this music I would call attention to the fine recordings on Naxos of Lilburn's three symphonies performed by the same forces.
Scott Morrison
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