Greatness of Lilburn there for all to hear

By WILLIAM DART


The stature of Douglas Lilburn has recently been celebrated with a four-CD set of his electro-acoustic music, and the mammoth 10-CD collection taken from Concert FM's 2003 documentary series.

Yet much of Lilburn's greatness lies in his humblest creations, particularly the piano music that, for many, was the first introduction to his art.

Volume 2 of the Complete Piano Music has now appeared on Trust Records, and Dan Poynton is just the man for the project, vividly recorded in the capital's Ilot Concert Chamber.

The disc opens with the Nine Short Pieces of 1965-66, key works that post-date the crucial Third Symphony.

"Crotchety at 51!" was Lilburn's own description of himself on the score, and these miniatures are certainly on the terse side, with a lean, rugged beauty that complements the Leo Bensemann landscape on the booklet cover.

This set is the perfect starting point. The often severe textures (with the third showing Lilburn at his most cagey) are echoed in the Finale of First Sonatina later in the disc.

Poynton also comes up with many pieces from the mid-60s, which never made it to publication.

One, tidied up as late as 1981, uses sustaining pedal to evoke a world of magical, colouristic sweeps and blurs.

Lilburn may have been a fervent lover of the New Zealand landscape, but occasionally Robert Hoskins' booklet notes try too earnestly to draw analogies with the world of nature.

Listening to this 1981 piece I'm at a loss to hear "glowing days and mist-filled nights". What one appreciates more is the sense of sonic intrigue that also informed Lilburn's electro-acoustic world.

On the lighter side, Lilburn waxes skittishly with a six-part musical Christmas card written for his friends Laurence Baigent and Leo Bensemann, complete with musical box pieces and a rough'n'romping reel.

The collection would be inestimably poorer without Dan Poynton, a musician who knows the balance of theatrical and intimate that these works demand.

Who else would take Sea Change 1 to the edge of discreet funk, bring out all the flashing capriciousness of the 1956 Sonata's Allegro vivace while registering the full-chorded gravity of that very Schubertian 1948 Prelude?

* Dan Poynton, Douglas Lilburn, Complete Piano Music Volume 2 (Trust MMT 2054)