Douglas Lilburn Complete Piano Music Volume 2
Dan Poynton
massey u n ive r sity TRUST RECOR DS SERIES
Leo Bensemann (1912-1986), Takaka Stonehenge, 1983, oil on canvasboard, 635 x 777 mm. BNZ Art Collection. Reproduced by permission of the estate of the artist.
Douglas Lilburn Complete Piano Music Volume 2
Dan Poynton 01-09 Nine Short Pieces
for Piano (1965-66)
14:03
10-12 Three Sea Changes
8:25
(1946-81)
13-19 ‘Seven Short Pieces’
7:50
(1965-66) †
A Musical Offering (1941) † 30 Prelude: Sostenuto 31 Prelude: Allegro jubilate 32 Prelude: Grave 33 Prelude: Allegro 34 Musical Box No.1: The Lassie’s Lament – The Highland Gathering 35 Musical Box No.2
20 ‘Short Piece’ (1965) †
0:34
21 Prelude (1948) †
2:02
Sonata (1956) 22 Allegro non troppo 23 Allegro vivace 24 Moderato
18:10
7:30
25 ‘Untitled Piece’ (1965) †
9:34 2:07 0:27 1:32 0:28
2:52 2:19 76:52
Total TIME
† First recording
3:36 7:10 2:33
26 ‘Untitled Piece’ (1981) †
2:56
27-29 Sonatina No.1 (1946)
9:57
massey u n ive r sity TRUST RECOR DS Se r i es
MMT2054 24 bit Digital Stereo Recording 2004 HRL Morrison Music Trust 2004 HRL Morrison Music Trust
Douglas Lilburn Douglas Lilburn (1915-2001) grew up on ‘Drysdale’, his parents’ hill country farm bordering the high mountain plateau at the centre of New Zealand’s North Island. He often described his boyhood home as “paradise” and his first major orchestral work, the Drysdale Overture (1937), written whilst a student under the aegis of Ralph Vaughan Williams at the Royal College of Music in London, explores the home hills, bush and stream as primal sites of imaginative wonder. Recalling the impression of ‘Drysdale’, the composer wrote “I’m left with that lovely Mark Twain image of Jim and Huckleberry drifting their barge down that great river, looking up at the stars and wondering ‘whether they was made, or only just happened.’” Other prize-winning student works included a choral cycle Prodigal Country (1939) and the Aotearoa Overture (1940) which became an instant New Zealand classic. Returning to New Zealand, Lilburn settled in Christchurch where he had for-
merly studied. Here, he banded together with an innovative group of painters, poets, publishers and theatre directors who were to prove vastly influential. Settings of the poets Allen Curnow and Denis Glover, for example, resulted in two iconic works – Landfall in Unknown Seas (1942), a voyage of spiritual discovery for narrator and string orchestra, and Sings Harry (1954) which harvests the smell of gorse fires, the sparkle of mountain tarns, the reality of farmhouse dung and the jocular honesty of an ‘old-timer’. Lilburn dedicated occasional piano pieces to artist Leo Bensemann and Caxton Press editor Lawrence Baigent, and his extended orchestral tone poem A Song of Islands (1946) finds its parallel in the regional paintings of Rita Angus. In 1947 Lilburn joined the staff of Victoria University College in Wellington and completed a series of works which received high critical acclaim, including the Symphony No.1 (1949), the Sonata (1949) for piano, the Alistair Campbell song cycle
Elegy (1951) – a vision of the titanic indifference of nature – and the fervently loved Symphony No.2 (1951). Lilburn composed the Symphony No.3 (1961), along with Sonatina No.2 (1962) and Nine Short Pieces for Piano (1965-66) in response to a stimulating period of sabbatical leave. Masterpieces of style, these works seem to get to the bottom of life’s essential needs. Their witty and pointed rhetoric brings together language and nature, the human and the non-human, in unusual conjunctions that resonate with symbolic meanings. From this point until his retirement, Lilburn concentrated on the relatively unexplored territory of electroacoustic music. His final years were spent quietly at home, tending his garden and, until the onset of arthritis, playing his beloved August Förster upright piano. Douglas Lilburn received the Order of New Zealand in 1988.
Complete Piano Music Volume 2 Nine Short Pieces for Piano (1965-66) In 1967 Lilburn presented pianist, friend and colleague Margaret Nielsen with a folder of piano pieces labelled “Crotchety at 51!” The composer asked Nielsen to “Please see what you can make of these,” and eventually nine were selected to make a comprehensive sequence which, like the Symphony No.3, arguably becomes a corollary of Lilburn’s Sings Harry settings of Denis Glover’s poems. New Zealand likes its sages ordinary but reclusive, without sexual desire (or desire of any kind) and cynical of material progress, yet nevertheless blessed with a sense of vernacular elation. Lilburn and Harry are indeed two avuncular recluses—outdoor figures, the companions of hawks and deer. They are stone heads of reassuring integrity who, ‘crotchety at 51’, speak of a bitter-sweet point of balance at a moment between youth just past and age about to come. It is not difficult to hear the strain of Harry’s guitar resonating in the first piece; nor is it hard to trace the lines
that criss-cross the face of this music as furrowed with bleakness yet graced by an awareness that all human experience is finally put into context against the power and beauty of the natural world. Expressed with exquisite subtlety, the Nine Short Pieces, each of which is based on a single idea, capture as well as anything else Lilburn wrote the essence of what he most valued. Like Harry, Lilburn would be content to ‘live it all again’, and be content also to cast out remorse. Three Sea Changes (1946, 1950, 1972/81) Set against the coastal landscape of New Zealand, these pieces are all concerned with the complexities and mysteries of the human heart. Steeped in memory and washed in brine, they celebrate a passionate engagement with the natural world and a continuity of human effort in the face of transition – in the face of love and loss. The opening movement, vibrant with linear rhythms, is strong and clear whilst
the altogether more introspective central piece, entitled ‘Prelude’, is resonant with the bleak undertow of unrewarded lives; the metaphysical quality of the closing movement speaks of the elemental imagination – which, in Sings Harry, is otherwise called “the flowers of the sea.” Margaret Nielsen recalls Lilburn equating this sequence of movements with the three stages of human life. In so doing he may, in part, have been referring to the cycle of his own compositional style which these pieces represent: the first, completed in 1946, belongs to his early romantic aspirations while the second, dated 1950, represents the ‘searching rhetoric’ of his middle works; the third, sketched in 1972 and revised in 1981, comes at the end of his creativity. ‘Seven Short Pieces’ (1965-66) These pieces come from the same folder as the Nine Short Pieces, the composer stating in an appended note: “The Nine Short Pieces were culled from this lot”; in both sets, ideas are seeded from single generative cells. Combining neoclassicism and serial
technique with impressionism, these pieces juxtapose compressed motivic diction with the linear counterpoint of Bach and the sensuous language of Bartók’s ‘night music’. Composed in the mid-60s (nos.1-5 in 1965, nos.6-7 in 1966), the series exemplifies Lilburn’s move towards modernist expression and also a contemporary approach to landscape. Numbers 6 and 7 (No.6 is marked “attacca”), for example, can be heard as a ‘prelude and fugue’, whilst at the same time evoking the pictorial interface of a lake and river – the lake shining with star-like clarity and the river running in dawn-flushed counterpoint. What is signalled is the emergence of ‘inscape’, the nature of things, which is the principal site of meaning in Lilburn’s late electro-acoustic works. ‘Short Piece’ (1965) The interweaving linear formations of this study evoke the play of waves on summer shores. This piece belongs to the same folder as the collections of nine and seven short pieces.
Prelude (1948) This piece demonstrates Lilburn’s fascination with the authority and potency of Schubert’s voice. It tells a poignant story of solitude and the bitter-sweet sorrow of memory. Before us float images of shallow waters, leaves and moist earth, its hypnotic patterning bringing speculation continually to mind. Sonata (1956) Allegro non troppo Allegro vivace Moderato The composer’s programme note for this work reads: “This Sonata may reflect some transition of style and also some stress of moving from the South Island to what proved to be a congenial new context of Wellington and its coasts. There are three movements as befitting any sonata and their unfamiliar patterns may reflect changing circumstances. In the mid-forties my Christchurch friend and colleague Frederick Page once complained to me: ‘Why don’t you write music with charm, as Len-
nox Berkeley does?’ But the Lennox charm was anathema to me, as my testimony now sounds. Rather I wanted a harsh rhetoric and sombre inscape, both gained from my experience and its analogy with the coasts, something that the painter Colin McCahon vouched for. I hope listeners may accept a rather grim first movement, along with the wayward wave-spun rhythms of the second, my coastal substitute for Viennese waltztime, and then relax into some resolutions offered by the final movement.” This sonata provides an outstanding example of Lilburn’s ‘orchestration’ of piano colour and his sensitive balancing of tonal relationships. Here the New Zealand landscape appears at once desolate and compelling, contrasting the raw textures of the brooding hills with the crestings of tides and luminous cloud formations. Throughout the sonata powerful linear rhythms convey to the listener a sense of nature’s force and energy, whilst Lilburn’s interest in the subtle inter-relationships between mountains, sea and sky mirror what it means to be a New Zealander.
Rita Angus (1908-1970), Storm, Hawke’s Bay, c.1969, oil on hardboard, 600 x 600 mm. Private collection, Wellington. Reproduced by permission of the estate of the artist.
‘Untitled Piece’ (1965) No one can ever accuse Lilburn’s repertory of short pieces written during the 1960s as simple or superficial, yet they possess an immediacy that listeners find alluring and true. If their event-horizons are instant, their intensities are infinite and utterly absorbing. Lilburn had drawn a line through the manuscript of this piece, and although we usually have every reason to trust the composer’s judgement, in some special cases we have reconsidered it so as to allow a better appreciation of the fuller dimensions of his work. ‘Untitled Piece’ (1981) Composed in 1981 from sketches made in 1973, this work is probably the last to have come from Lilburn’s pen. The music unfolds, song-like, in long-breathed cumulative phrases. Sharp and sad, haunted by glowing days and mist-filled nights, this evocation, in its supple beauty and clarity, seems flawless. Sonatina No.1 (1946) In an interview with Owen Jensen, Lilburn
said how struck he was by painter Toss Woollaston’s remark that “international influences are what give our work manner, but environment should give it character”. This sonatina combines the geometric patterning of classical forms with the distinctive simplicity of colour and line that the composer so admired in the work of regionalist painter Rita Angus. The sharp outline of the theme in octaves, scoured by the receding chordal responses which open the sonatina, represents the sculptural landforms of the Southern Alps. Here, snow-capped peaks appear to roll on forever and space is vast and relentless. Vertiginous structural chords, announcing the second subject group, lay bare the natural and geological foundations of the mountainous landscape, whilst the triplet flow of another secondary theme animates the texture. Carefully balanced bimodal harmonies render throughout the rich tonal contrast of monumental landforms. The central movement, with its sarabande-like gestures, takes in and gives back signals of a universal solitude, while the semitonal dissonance embedded in the the-
matic texture is the sound of a lonely personal vernacular. The dulled, pulsed beat of the middle section is conducive to reverie and snowfall. A major modality graces the return of the opening material. The three-note motive dominating the finale, combined with a fluid overlay of triads, evokes a sense of vigour, not unlike the rush of river water over boulders. The first broadcast performance of this work was given in 1946 by Owen Jensen, and the first public performance was given by Lili Kraus in 1947. A Musical Offering (1941) Lilburn’s musical Christmas gift to Lawrence Baigent and Leo Bensemann in 1941 – the first of at least three such offerings dating from the 1940s – shows the composer in a merry mood. The collection, rich with bonbons, commences with four ‘carols’ which ring out joyously or plangently with pealing bells. There follows a sequence for ‘musical box’, including a Scottish song (‘The Lassie’s Lament’) and reel (‘The Highland Gathering’). The original entertainment concluded with an uproarious ‘Bolero’ for six hands
(presumably Baigent and Bensemann joined their friend) but this item is reserved for other piano-ensemble works later in the series. Lilburn titles the manuscript “A Musical Offering of Preludes, Musical-boxes and a Tempo di Bolero” with an ‘apologia’ (reproduced below): “Musical-boxes says Lawrence / Excite my abhorrence / and these preludes says Bensemann / There’s really no sense in ’em”, followed by the musical quotation I do like to be beside the seaside reworded as “But we do like to swing the old Bolero.” Lilburn, relishing Baigent’s taste and Bensemann’s stringency, has written vulgarly and sentimentally; nor has he left out his own Scots persona – Lilburn’s family roots were in the lowlands.
NZ-Wt MS-Group-0024, fMS-Papers-3983-1
DAN POYNTON Christchurch Concerto Competition. In 1988 he was awarded first prize in the National Kerikeri Piano Competition. After study in New Zealand and postgraduate study in Australia, Poynton spent several years travelling the world. In 1997, he re-established his reputation and career with You Hit Him He Cry Out, a recording of New Zealand piano music which won the Classical Award in the 1998 New Zealand Music Awards. Poynton is known as a champion of New Zealand piano music and has been in significant demand throughout Australasia, Dan Poynton was born in Wellington, New
Asia and Europe especially for his solo pia-
Zealand. His first major musical recogni-
no recital programmes as well as for his ap-
tion came while at school when he won the
pearances with the sopranos Deborah Wai
Composition Prize at the 1983 National
Kapohe (New Zealand) and Sylvia Nopper
Westpac School Music Competition. In
(Germany). He was chosen as the sole rep-
1986 he was a finalist in the TVNZ Young
resentative from New Zealand to perform a
Musicians Competition and the National
concert of music in June 1999 at the Sydney
Opera House as part of that year’s Inter-
Also available in this series:
national Association of Music Information Centres Conference. In recent years, Poynton has performed in the Bangkok New Music Festival, the New Music New Zealand Festival in Edinburgh, the Sonorities Festival in Ireland and the Ijsbreker Festival in Amsterdam as well as in Malaysia, Germany, Switzerland, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. Poynton tours extensively as a solo artist throughout New Zealand, and has been involved in collaborations with other musicians – including Gareth Farr and Mark Menzies – and a number of recording projects. As well as a pianist he is also known as a composer, and his recitals often include his own works.
MMT2053 Dan Poynton: The Complete Piano Music of Douglas Lilburn, Volume 1
Leo Bensemann (1912-1986) Leo Bensemann was born in Takaka in the Nelson province of New Zealand. He moved to Christchurch in 1929 with his friend Lawrence Baigent. In 1934 he met Denis Glover who, with John Drew, had established the Caxton Press Club. It was Glover’s enthusiasm for Bensemann’s graphic work which led to the suggestion of a set of drawings for publication; and, as typographer at Caxton Press, he was involved in all technical aspects of book production with Glover. As an illustrator, he produced vivid images with a strong element of fantasy. Bensemann also assisted Charles Brasch with the publication of Landfall from its inception in March 1947 until 1978. Bensemann painted landscapes throughout his life, drawing upon scenes associated with Canterbury: the expanses of plain, rolling foothills and the distant views of the Alps. From time to time he also used the rocky outcrops of the Takaka Hills remembered from his childhood. His landscapes are dominated by edge and silhouette, and a sharp light; full of remembered and seen elements, dreamlike stillness and poster-like clarity.
Rita Angus (1908-1970) Rita Angus was born in Hastings and studied at the Canterbury College School of Art from 1927 to 1933. In the 1930s she exhibited at the Canterbury Society of Arts and with ‘The Group’ (ex-students from the Society who set up their own exhibitions), while working as a graphic artist. She painted extensively in Otago, Canterbury, and later in Hawke’s Bay and Wellington. In 1954 she bought a cottage in Thorndon, Wellington where she lived and worked until her death in 1970. Often described as one of the outstanding artists of her generation, Rita Angus was an independent and often solitary person. She had a strong sense of vocation and was single-minded in her dedication to her art. “I live to paint and paint to live”, she is quoted as saying.
Dan Poynton: The Complete Piano Music of Douglas Lilburn, Volume 2 MMT2054 Digital Stereo Recording © 2004 HRL Morrison Music Trust 2004 HRL Morrison Music Trust A Massey University Trust Records release Recorded in the Ilott Theatre, Wellington Town Hall, Wellington, New Zealand, 30 April, 1 May & 30 May 2004 Producer Murray Khouri Engineer Keith Warren, Radio NZ Piano Technician Geoff Higgs and Chris Jarman Digital Editing and Mastering Wayne Laird Executive Producer Ross Hendy Research Dan Poynton and Assoc Prof Robert Hoskins Booklet Notes Assoc Prof Robert Hoskins Design Mallabar Music Lilburn Photograph Douglas Lilburn Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, PAColl-2547-01 Poynton Photograph Tim Gummer Sources Nine Short Pieces Price Milburn Music Three Sea Changes Waiteata Music Press ‘Seven Short Pieces’ NZ-Wt MS-Group-0009, fMS-Papers-2483-044 ‘Short Piece’ (1965) NZ-Wt MS-Group-0009, fMS-Papers-2483-044 Prelude (1948) NZ-Wt MS-Group-0009, MS-Papers-2483-014 Sonata (1956) Waiteata Music Press ‘Untitled Piece’ (1965) NZ-Wt MS-Group-0009, fMS-Papers-2483-052
‘Untitled Piece’ (1981) NZ-Wt MS-Group-0009, fMS-Papers-7623-20 Sonatina No.1 Price Milburn Music A Musical Offering NZ-Wt MS-Group-0024, fMS-Papers-3983-1 The copyrights of Douglas Lilburn’s music are owned by the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust. Royalties from Douglas Lilburn’s music are paid to the Lilburn Trust for the fostering and preservation of New Zealand music. The HRL Morrison Music Trust was established in March 1995 as a charitable trust to support New Zealand musicians of international calibre. All funds received by the Trust are used to make recordings, present concerts – both in New Zealand and overseas – and assist artists to undertake projects to further develop their talents. The Massey University Trust Records series was established by Trust Records and the Massey University Conservatorium of Music to promote the work of established New Zealand artists and composers and to further the University’s commitment to excellence in research. The HRL Morrison Music Trust gratefully acknowledges the support of the following people and organisations in the making of this recording: Caroline Otto (Leo Bensemann Estate); the Bank of New Zealand; Bill Angus (Rita Angus Estate); City Gallery, Wellington; the Alexander Turnbull Library; and the School of Music, Victoria University of Wellington. For more information about this recording or others by the HRL Morrison Music Trust visit www.trustcds.com
Douglas Lilburn Complete Piano Music Volume 2
Dan Poynton 01-09 Nine Short Pieces
for Piano (1965-66)
14:03
10-12 Three Sea Changes
8:25
(1946-81)
13-19 ‘Seven Short Pieces’
7:50
(1965-66) †
A Musical Offering (1941) † 30 Prelude: Sostenuto 31 Prelude: Allegro jubilate 32 Prelude: Grave 33 Prelude: Allegro 34 Musical Box No.1: The Lassie’s Lament – The Highland Gathering 35 Musical Box No.2
20 ‘Short Piece’ (1965) †
0:34
21 Prelude (1948) †
2:02
Sonata (1956) 22 Allegro non troppo 23 Allegro vivace 24 Moderato
18:10
7:30
25 ‘Untitled Piece’ (1965) †
9:34 2:07 0:27 1:32 0:28
2:52 2:19 76:52
Total TIME
† First recording
3:36 7:10 2:33
26 ‘Untitled Piece’ (1981) †
2:56
27-29 Sonatina No.1 (1946)
9:57
massey u n ive r sity TRUST RECOR DS Se r i es
MMT2054 24 bit Digital Stereo Recording 2004 HRL Morrison Music Trust 2004 HRL Morrison Music Trust