New Zealand Music
Compare and contrast the work and music of two New Zealand composers, writing in the 1980s and or 1990s. ... 3 in one movement (Dedicated to John Hopkins) 1961 John Rimmer December Nights 1991 Introduction This essay will compare and contrast the work of two New Zealand Composers, Douglas Lilburn and John Rimmer. ... This piece written for The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, uses transposing instruments such as the clarinets in A, horns in F and trumpets in C. The score for this music is quite pictorial in the way Lilburn has used instrumental placement. ... This symphony is part of a set of three symphonies, which appear to occupy a significant place in the music of Australasia according to John Hopkins in 1993. “Lilburn’s unique strength and individuality stand as a pinnacle of achievement in New Zealand Music. ... New Zealand as a whole is to be complimented for excellent writing in symphonic form, at a time when many Australian composers opted to compose less constricted and less conventional forms of music. ... ) This music has an enchanting glissando from the piano in the opening bars which is one aspect Rimmer has deliberately included in this piece. ... 3 is as though Lilburn has sighed and said “Oh well I had better write yet another symphony…” This feeling is well portrayed in the music. ... Perhaps one could argue that music should be utilized in its natural sense without being reproduced by modern machinery such as computers. ... One really cannot write a comparison of these two works without commenting on the endings of these pieces of New Zealand Music.