Series Introduction - The Douglas Lilburn Project . Public radio features produced by Roger Smith & Gareth Watkins

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					Series Introduction 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 radio programmes focussing 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 Sound Archives/Nga Taonga Korero 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 has been to deposit the majority of these unedited interviews (1-2 hours each) with the Alexander Turnbull Library, which already holds a substantial Douglas Lilburn collection. The Douglas Lilburn Project has been quite a journey, and along the way we've been thrilled to find some rarities in the archives - many of which were broadcast during the run of the series. One of the gems is Douglas himself playing the fourth of his Five Bagatelles for Piano, thought to have been recorded in 1946. Other examples of recorded history include the premiere public performances of Symphony No. 3 and A Birthday Offering. Also featured throughout the series are recordings of Cornet Rilke, with Maria Dronke, music to This is New Zealand, a co-production with the BBC from 1949, and the incidental music to The Pitcher and the Well, a radio play from 1964, and one of Douglas's earliest electronic scores. Of particular interest is a recording of a brief talk given by Percy Grainger while in New Zealand in 1935, venturing the possibility of offering a prize for the composition of a truly New Zealand piece of music. Douglas won the competition with a work called Forest and it was largely on the strength of this that his father allowed him to travel to London and study with Ralph Vaughan Williams at the Royal College of Music. Douglas stayed in touch with Vaughan Williams after he returned to New Zealand, and the radio talk he gave upon learning of Vaughan Williams' death is amongst the most moving of tributes. (Forest will be performed for the first time since 1937, on 28 May 2003 by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in the Wellington Town Hall, and broadcast live on Concert FM.) We must particularly acknowledge the help and support of the team at Sound Archives/Nga Taonga Korero, Jill Palmer, the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand/Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, and the Lilburn Trust in the making of the radio series. Through their efforts we have been allowed access to a number of important documents, sound recordings and autobiographical sketches - tantalising glimpses into Douglas Lilburn's early life. With an eye to the future, we can see the potential of releasing the series as an educational resource on cd or cd-rom. The Douglas Lilburn project took over a year to come to fruition. In that time we were 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 all 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


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