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Curnow requested this work from Lilburn in 1952 for a poetry reading at Auckland University College. The event took place on the evening of 9 August that year, and involved a substantial amount of poetry (twenty-two poems in total) read by the poets involved. (Actually the works of eight poets were represented: Baxter read “Canto at Twenty-seven” by Louis Johnson).

Lilburn’s music was premiered by Antonia Braidwood (violin) and Donald Bowick (piano). One movement was supposed to precede each reading, providing the audience with the composer’s musical impressions of the work and personality of each poet. In the event, however, the order was reversed, which led to some confusion for the audience and some displeasure for the composer. Typical of New Zealand composition of the time, there was no fee to be had for the work. Lilburn even had to pay his way to Auckland for the rehearsals. On his return to Wellington, Lilburn shelved and forgot about the work. It was not until a chance meeting at his doctor’s surgery in 1988/89 that he was reminded of its existence by Lady Dorothea Turner, who had reviewed the first performance. At that point Lilburn contacted the violinist Dean Major to ask if he would be interested in performing it. After some negotiation the composer also determined that he would write a narration to go along with the music in lieu of the twenty-two poems, and (most surprisingly) volunteered to read this himself.

Salutes to Seven Poets was recorded by Concert FM on 5 September 1989, by Major (violin), with Rae de Lisle (piano). As if to make up for thirty-eight years of neglect of the work, this recording received a Mobil Award in 1990.

(Note by Nancy November).

• Lilburn: Salutes to Seven Poets; computer-set 

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• Waiteata Collection of New Zealand Music Vol. 9 - Douglas Lilburn: Salutes to Poets  Year: 2006 

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• Douglas Lilburn: Violin and Piano Works  Year: 2011 

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• Alfred Hill: String Quartets Vol. 1  Year: 2007 

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• Alfred Hill: String Quartets Vol. 1  Year: 2007 

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This quartet was dedicated to Henri Verbrugghen and the members of this string quartet, with specific dedications of the second movement to the violinist, David Nichol, the third to second violinist, Jenny Cullen and the fourth to Henri Verbrugghen himself. Though the inscription is missing one can reasonably assume the first movement was dedicated to the cellist, James Messens.


The first two movements are familiar to audiences through Hill’s transcription of them as the first two movements of his Symphony in C minor, The Pursuit of Happiness. The Scherzo was composed while Hill was a student in Leipzig and was orchestrated to form part of Symphony NO. 1 and the Finale also exists as a Rondo for cello or violin with piano. The second movement, Adagio ma non troppo, opens with an eight-bar melody in the viola, repeated by the first violin, and shows an English influence, with harmonic suspensions reminiscent of Edward Elgar. This is believed to be the first recording of the complete original work.


Donald Maurice
from Alfred Hill – String Quartets Vol. 2, NAXOS

• Alfred Hill - String Quartets Vol. 2 

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Dated 6th December, 1934, String Quartet No. 8 in A major was most likely read through by the string quartet with which Hill was associated at that time, though no evidence of a public performance or recording has been found. The late Cedric Ashton, cellist in that quartet, told the publisher Allan Stiles that he remembered playing through the 1930s quartets during their regular rehearsals. It would seem that from this quartet onwards, Hill had found a vehicle to explore a new-found harmonic idiom, no doubt influenced by the European impressionists, whose sound-world would have undergone some time lag before entering the mainstream of musical taste in Australasia. While he continued to maintain a more conventional style for his ‘public’ works, this genre enabled Hill some scope for experimentation, with the music remaining unheard by the public. He commented in a television interview in 1957 that his heavily impressionistic Quartet No. 11 remained his favourite work of the genre. Quartet No. 8 is unified by thematic ideas and is clearly conceived as a complete entity.


Donald Maurice
from Alfred Hill – String Quartets Vol. 2, NAXOS

• Alfred Hill - String Quartets Vol. 2 

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The manuscripts bear the date: ‘finished 20th January 1935’ on covers of the first violin part and the score and the last page of the latter. ‘Sydney 18th December 1935’, however, is on the cover of the cello part and ‘Sydney 14th December 1934’ is at the end of the score for the scherzo. The first performance was by the Alfred Hill Academy String Quartet on 14th October 1935.


The parts for the scherzo have their own cover pages with title and composer’s name (usually seen only at the beginning), leading to the conclusion that the scherzo was composed as an individual movement and later incorporated into this work. A curiosity is that ‘No.9’ appears to have been added to title Quartet for Strings in A Minor on the cover-pages sometime after they were written and only the name is at the head of the music. ‘No.9’ on the cover of the cello part is written over what initially was ‘No.10’. That, with similar evidence on some other quartet manuscripts and the results of literature research, leads to the conclusion that this was actually the tenth quartet. The nature of the missing quartet and reasons for its exclusion are uncertain.


Sometime in the 1950s Hill reworked this quartet to create Symphony in A Minor for String Orchestra , the score for which is undated. Andrew McCredie called this Symphony No.13 but there is no evidence for such a chronological placement. He had already published numbers for twelve symphonies before this one was located in the archive of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s music library and had no alternative but to so number it. (It had been catalogued there as Serenade in A Minor, a title at the head of the music but not on the cover). It now seems appropriate to only use the name given by Hill, Symphony in A Minor for String Orchestra. The symphony is not merely the addition of a double bass part but a thorough reworking.


from Stiles Music Publications

• Alfred Hill: String Quartets Vol. 3  Year: 2009 

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• Watson, A.: String Quartet No. 1; facsimile 

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• Watson, A.: String Quartet No. 1; facsimile 

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• Anthony Watson - The String Quartets  Year: 1994 

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Extract from the Collected Edition foreword:
The rhythmic energy and harmonic language place it as a work very much in the Eastern European language of its era with hints of Bartók’s influence. The craftsmanship is exemplary, the musical inspiration shows great maturity and one feels a rich life experience being expressed through its highly contrasted moods. It is a challenging work to learn but thoroughly rewarding, and one feels emotionally drained at its conclusion.

• Pruden: String Trio; facsimile 

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• Larry Pruden Collected Edition Volume 3 - Instrumental Music and Works for Chamber Ensemble  Year: 2007 

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• Hamilton/Harris/Blake/Pruden: Nix Olympica and other works  Year: 1989 

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• Hamilton/Harris/Blake/Pruden  Year: 1989 

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