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Lilburn’s Diversions for String Orchestra (1947) was composed within a few years of the composer’s return to New Zealand after studying with Ralph Vaughan Williams at the Royal College of Music in London.
At the heart of the work is a love for rural New Zealand—a tribute to the dignity and grace of ordinary people and a lyrical vision of duty to home.
Rhythmic events flow through the work’s five movements, giving it a ballet-like quality: Vivace is dance-like, Poco adagio, espressivo is a quasi-antiphonal hymn-tune, Presto recalls the sound of cantering horses (including a direct reference to the ‘Lone Ranger’ theme tune), Andante is song-like, and Allegro evokes the chatter of a river under the banks of a hill.
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