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Re: Music from New Zealand

Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 7:58 am
by davida march
http://www.australiancomposers.com.au/Leipzig_Diary/

LEIPZIG DIARY - ALFRED HILL

edited by Donald Maurice

'Hill’s return to New Zealand in 1891, full of the hype and zest of Leipzig, must have been an enormous cultural shock for him, yet he made the choice to stay and become a pioneer colonial musician, and share all he was able to from his four and a half years in the epicentre of European musical life. In this context it is not difficult to see why, after twenty years of trying to musically move New Zealand into the twentieth century and failing to achieve his dreams of a national conservatorium and symphony orchestra, he moved permanently to Sydney in 1910, where he was to play a major role in establishing what is now known as the Sydney Conservatorium. His legacy there, as the first professor of composition, gave Australia identifiable roots to a national musical identity.

His legacy in New Zealand, and a permanent place as the “national composer”, would have been cemented had he succeeded in establishing a national conservatorium in the early twentieth century. However, that was not to be, and his departure, followed by the events of 1914-18, and later 1937-44, which initiated and then confirmed that a national identity based on the great musical heritage of Germany was “undesirable”, effectively wrote Alfred Hill out of the script as the founding figure of a national identity in New Zealand’s music history.'

Claimed by the Aussies - should he move threads?
dm

Re: Music from New Zealand

Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:07 am
by klavierelch
I will gladly move him to a German thread ;) :lol:

Re: Music from New Zealand

Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:11 am
by davida march
klavierelch wrote:I will gladly move him to a German thread ;) :lol:
Surely we can find someone's who's not in copyright?

Re: Music from New Zealand

Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 2:28 pm
by TilMusik
Hi Davida,

As an expat Kiwi, I love the idea of posting NZ music.
All I have in the cupboard are some very early albums of Maori songs. However, I may have some works on a separate hard drive - watch this space :)

However, a number of New Zealand-born composers later worked overseas, or came to Australia to work. There are several listed with the Australian Music Centre - the same URL as for Alfred Hill.

Elizabeth

Re: Music from New Zealand

Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 11:19 pm
by davida march
Thanks Elizabeth,
It would be rather good to sort out who is Australian and who is actually New Zealand by birth. As you know, Australia is pretty good at claiming ex-pats as their own,
Helen

Re: Music from New Zealand

Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:57 am
by davida march

Re: Music from New Zealand

Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:23 pm
by Richard0428
fredbucket wrote:[
Actually, I can upload a piece by arguably New Zealand's finest composer.

Alfred Hill (1870-1960) - trained in Europe (he knew Brahms) and althought born in Melboune spent much time in NZ during the 1890's and was very much influenced (as much as possible given his style) by Maori music and legends - his oratorio Hinemoa was the first work built around a Maori legend.

Regards
Fred

Interesting opinion. From what I've heard of Hill's works (several CDs of his orchestral works and symphonies) Hill's style is extremely conservative (the CD notes even mention the influence of Mendelssohn!). Nothing wrong withv that, of course, but the music I've heard so far is lovely, for sure, and inspired in its way, but strikes me as very unoriginal: the work of a clever craftsman modelling his works on classics from a time long past.
Hill's huge number of opus numbers could be partially accounted for by the fact that he sometimes rewrote older pieces to 'create' new ones. Of his thirteen symphonies (says the notes on one of the Marco Polo discs), the majority are orchestrations of string quartets written ealier in life. The music I've heard is certainly attractive listening, but much more interesting to my mind (and more 'original') is the only other NZ composer I know of, Douglas Lilburn (who anyway was a 'true' New Zealander, unlike Hill, who was born in Melbourne).

Re: Music from New Zealand

Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:36 pm
by jre58591
Is it possible for any music of Douglas Lilburn (who has a rather sizeable piano output) to be posted here? If so, does anyone have any?

Re: Music from New Zealand

Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:38 pm
by rob
jre58591 wrote:Is it possible for any music of Douglas Lilburn (who has a rather sizeable piano output) to be posted here? If so, does anyone have any?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Lilburn
I only really know his rather terse Third Symphony and somewhat Sibelian Aotearoa Overture, but on the basis of those pieces alone (which I heartily recommend) I reckon him to be fairly significant. He died recently (2001), so I cannot imagine we will be able to post anything by him except perhaps samples or if we know something is well out of print.

Re: Music from New Zealand

Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2009 6:34 am
by klavierelch
The people at Sibley have released a scan of the parts of Alfred Hill's String Quartet Nos.1+2:
https://urresearch.rochester.edu/instit ... onNumber=1