COMPOSERS: Lilburn
LABELS: Naxos
ALBUM TITLE: Lilburn
WORKS: A Song of Islands; Forest; A Birthday Offering; Drysdale Overture; Festival Overture
PERFORMER: New Zealand SO/ James Judd
CATALOGUE NO: 8.557697
It’s good to see Naxos following
up the success of their Lilburn
symphonies disc with this fine
collection of his shorter orchestral
works. As with the first two
symphonies, it isn’t hard to find
stylistic affinities with Lilburn’s
teacher Vaughan Williams,
Copland and particularly Sibelius
– the early Forest tone poem sounds
at times like a direct tribute to the
Finnish master. But it isn’t just that
Lilburn digests these influences
thoroughly in his best works; he
has recognisable and very likeable
fingerprints of his own, not to
mention a thoroughly personal way
of following a symphonic argument
to its natural (though rarely entirely
predictable) conclusion, as he does
magnificently in the Aotearoa and
Drysdale overtures. And there are
even times when Lilburn looks
ahead: the floating, swooning modal
string polyphony in A Birthday
Overture sounds strikingly like
a prophecy of James MacMillan
– three years before MacMillan’s
birth. An unpretentious but original
voice, natural lyricism, a language
that savours of fresh air, exhilarating
heights and awe-inspiring lonely
spaces – it’s an appealing recipe, and
the New Zealand Orchestra and
James Judd bring it off with ripe
understanding and audible affection.
Good recordings too: atmospheric
enough, but with balancing clarity.