Pieces for Piano (Preview)

This Rondino (1952) is

This Rondino (1952) is fun to play. To achieve crispness and jokey precision, the slurred staccato semiquavers of the first beat of bars 1–4 (and elsewhere) are best played with a changing (4321) finger pattern. The haunting Andante (1950) also appears in Occasional Pieces. In this gentle miniature, repeated modal chords alternate with a decorative melodic fragment. Judicious pedalling and perhaps half-pedalling should be added. The Three Sea Changes (1945–81) were written at different periods of Lilburn’s life. Two are reprinted here. The title derives from Ariel’s song ‘Full fathom five’ in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Lilburn wrote that the inspiration of the first piece was Brighton Beach, near Christchurch, ‘exuberant and sunlit but with a tolling undertone’, and the second was directly ‘from Paekakariki [near Wellington] — a more expansive view’. In the first Sea Change the many patterns of two or four repeated semiquavers should be played with a 4321 fingering if possible, with light fingers and a loose wrist. From about the eighth note of each billowing phrase, the right pedal could be gradually released towards the half-pedal position to add resonance and sonic direction whilst avoiding lineal blurring. In the second Sea Change, the dismal foghorn-like dotted minim groups should be played deep into the key, each followed by a small whirlwind of sound. Moderato is the first of Three Preludes (1943). Its undulating chordal material has a hint of Schubert within. The Nine Short Pieces for Piano of 1965–66 were presented to Margaret Nielsen along with a whole folder of piano pieces and the request to ‘please see what you can do with these’. The resulting nine pieces that she chose, form a quite extraordinary sequence of delicate and mature miniatures. In the first a spiralling of incipient tone rows can be discerned, and the sixth piece displays an ear for the calling of birds. A hunting-horn motif dominates the fabric of the Prelude of 1950, which also explores an alternation of uneven time signatures from 7/4 down, in ‘rather free rhythm’. Prelude (1951) fascinates with its constant swirling and undulating grace-note chords, which gradually spell out a slow-moving melodic motif. The chords oscillate and make new phrasings, cadencing every so often, only to lead on in a new direction. A most unusual and exciting piece to play. Andante commodo (1973) was first published in Occasional Pieces for Piano. Stepped notes trace their way uphill, spilling over in shimmering streams of triplet and quintuplet or septuplet scales. Grace-note arpeggiations signal a downward flight to the end, an inversion of the initial crotchet-quaver-quaver pattern followed by a codetta-like closure of the original motif. ‘Untitled Piece’ of 1965, with its lovely richness and gentle fermatas, could well have been named Stillness or Resonances. Some half-pedalling may be explored here, and there is also place for experimenting with a ringing RH touch. Bar-lines are used very irregularly, to mark only the ends of phrases, and do not denote accentuation. But note the change of pedal at the bars marked with fermatas. The final bar needs a ringing tone: play the last note when your dynamic has fallen to around ∑. Hold finger and pedal until the final notes have ceased to sound. PEL09 – 4

Adagio sostenuto (1944) is an imaginative exploration of bitonality. The left-hand melody always dominates, while the right’s accompanying cloud of repeated chords needs to be played tenderly, sombrely, and utterly pianissimo. Only at the magnificent conclusion do the right hand’s quaver chords strive towards an intensity equal with the left hand’s melody. The miniature Andantino which follows contrasts falling fourths in the treble with descending augmented fourths in the bass. A bellbird sings overhead in the first six bars of Sonatina No.2 (1962), and another dives down the keys a few bars later, delighting those who have visited Lilburn’s house and have heard this very birdsong in his garden. Sonatina No.2 is in three movements (though only the first is contained in this volume) and was dedicated to pianist Margaret Nielsen. Measures mm.32–62 bring further birdsong fragments and their gradual development delights the performer. Yet there are other elements to discover: Lilburn mentioned, for instance, that the passage in thirds (from m.63) was a direct reference to the Maori chant Pō! Pō! Poco lento (No.2) from ‘Six Short Pieces’ (1962–63). Luminous — and sometimes gloomy — chords build to an exquisite climax. The contrast between the staccato chords and the curious legato melodies achieves a piquant effect. The fifth from ‘Six Short Pieces’ (1962–63). The Œ= 160 tempo marking foretells a somewhat unusual melody, which chases around, turning and swinging like a puppy chasing its tail, leaping crazily until abruptly subsiding in the last two bars. Allegro, No.1 of Four Preludes, from ‘A Christmas Offering’ (1944) consists in fast waves of upward pairs of slurred crotchets, building to full chordal versions of the same tune. Interspersing these are octave scales in the left hand descending in running staccatos, down … and down … For the 1948 Cambridge Summer Music School, Lilburn, the tutor, provided a bi- and tritonal theme of a somewhat militaristic character, Theme from Variations on a Theme by Douglas Lilburn (1948), on which the rising composers (Farquhar, Dellow, Carr, Franchi, Tremain and Pruden) were to write variations. Passing through A major to DÏ, the key of the diminished 4th, and thence through a dozen or more keys with bi- and multi-tonal combinations, it eventually winds quietly back to A. The theme is marked Andante, π semplice, but it is hard to imagine it without the twists and turns which bring it into full-blown ƒƒ climaxes. The third of the Four Preludes (1948–1960), Lento ma non troppo, is said to be reminiscent of Bartók and the Eastern European tradition, with its prominent augmented fourth and a triplet-plus-quintuplet rhythm appearing seven times in only twelve bars. This is a miniature masterpiece. Care is needed to ensure the triplet and the quintuplet of the first bar and elsewhere take exactly the same time to play. Lilburn’s last-written piano piece is ‘Untitled Piece’ (1981), whose rich resonances are based on octatonic scales [alternating whole and half steps]. A fragile lacework of octatonic figures is delicately drawn and developed into a sophisticated fresco, while gentle crotchet and quaver melodies support them with jewel-like steps. Allow the fingers to rest close to the keys to attain the music’s full, almost unearthly, beauty. Gillian Bibby PEL09 – 5