The acclaimed ten-part radio series on New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn is now available to own as a beautifully boxed 10 CD set with accompanying booklet.
The series features archival material plus first-hand accounts from twenty-five of Douglas's family, friends and colleagues.
It was launched at the Film Archive's MediaPlex in Wellington, New Zealand on 7 September 2004.
The radio series, in 10 one hour episodes, was created over a one-year period after Lilburn's death in 2001. "We were determined to tap into the essence of the man, while his friends and colleagues were still around", say producers Gareth Watkins and Roger Smith.
After its first broadcast on Concert FM in 2002, there was widespread interest in the series from educational institutions, libraries and members of the public, leading to the decision to produce the series on CD.
The CD release was been managed by SOUNZ the Centre for New Zealand Music in partnership with Concert FM, a network of Radio New Zealand.
"This project is hugely important in terms of documenting musical history in New Zealand. There is so little existing material about Lilburn, even though he is as important to the musical world as Colin McCahon is to that of art" says director of SOUNZ, Scilla Askew, "We are extremely grateful to the Will Fels Memorial Trust, the Stout Trust and the Lilburn Trust for recognising the importance of this release through funding support."
Consisting predominantly of interviews with 25 of the composer's close friends, family and colleagues, along with musical extracts and archival interviews with Lilburn himself, the series allows a fascinating insight into the complex man.
Various aspects of Lilburn's life are discussed, including his family life and growing up on the farm Drysdale', in Hunterville, his working life as a composer and lecturer at Victoria University, his relationships, encouragement of young composers and his intensely private nature.
The producers admit "having spent so much of his life determinedly promoting and supporting the work of others while doggedly avoiding the limelight himself, it is hardly likely that Douglas would have approved of a series of programmes focusing exclusively on his life".
The CD launch was held at the New Zealand Film Archive MediaPlex in Wellington. Lilburn composed a number of National Film Unit soundtracks in the late 1940s and so it was a delight to be able to show portions of these films accompanied by Lilburn’s music to the invited guests.
The audience included many of Douglas’s friends and colleagues as well as the Hon. Judith Tizard - Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage; plus Elizabeth Kerr – Chief Executive of Creative New Zealand, and Radio New Zealand Board members.
Scilla Askew, manager of SOUNZ, hosted the event. Radio New Zealand’s Chief Executive, Peter Cavanagh, spoke about the strong ties between Lilburn and Public Broadcasting – highlighting the fact that the vast majority of the 10 hour-long programmes contained recordings exclusively sourced from Radio New Zealand (and its predecessors).
The final speaker was the Reverend John Murray – one of Douglas’s close friends - who officially released the boxed-set to a warm and appreciative audience.
Click Here to listen to the end of John's speech (6 minutes, 730k).
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