We never met Douglas Lilburn. By the time we joined Broadcasting in the early 90s, he had ceased to be a frequent visitor or caller to Concert FM. It was generally accepted that he would not be interviewed, and that any dealings with him were to be conducted well before noon - and with great care.
After his death, in June 2001, it seemed appropriate to embark on a significant exploration of Douglas Lilburn the man; to try to get beyond much of the mythology that surrounded New Zealand's leading composer. That Douglas would have hated the whole notion of a project like this one can scarcely be ignored. Having spent so much of his life determinedly promoting and supporting the work of others while doggedly avoiding the limelight himself, it seems hardly likely that Douglas would have approved of a series of programmes focusing exclusively on his life.
But it seemed to us that Douglas's contribution to New Zealand was too valuable to ignore, and too important to forget. His international stature as a composer, his pioneering work with electronic music in New Zealand, his influence as a mentor to generations of New Zealand composers, and his far-sightedness and generosity in establishing the Lilburn Trust - these are all things to remind ourselves of, and reasons to celebrate the life of Douglas Lilburn.
Where to start? A cursory look through the Radio New Zealand/Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa archives turned up just a handful of examples of Douglas actually speaking, and only a couple of extended interviews. Douglas was in his eighty-sixth year when he died, his contemporaries were getting thin on the ground, and we realised that it was important to act quickly to capture on tape the memories of people who actually knew him. The collection of these oral histories adds significantly to the available body of sound material relating to Douglas Lilburn. The aim was then to mix parts of these interviews with archival recordings to create the present series of radio features. The final step was to deposit these unedited interviews (1-2 hours each) with the Alexander Turnbull Library, which already holds a substantial Douglas Lilburn collection.
The Douglas Lilburn c.d. series has taken almost three years to come to fruition. In that time we have been privileged to meet many wonderful people: Douglas's friends, family and colleagues, all of whom have been extremely generous with their time and their memories of Douglas. We thank them, and the entire production team, for their support and encouragement during the making of these programmes.
Finally, we dedicate this series to the memory of our friend Jonathan Dennis, who was always keen to hear how 'Douglas Lilburn' was going, and who throughout the last months of his life was a source of great advice, tremendous encouragement and profound inspiration.
- Roger Smith & Gareth Watkins, Producers (July 2004)
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