26 Aug 2024

Divagations, Doodlings and Downright Lies

From Three to Seven, 4:00 pm on 26 August 2024
New Zealand Composer Lyell Cresswell

New Zealand Composer Lyell Cresswell Photo: Gareth Watkins

Cover art, Lyell Cresswell's autobiography

Photo: Supplied / Te Herenga Waka University Press

This year is the 80th birthday of one of New Zealand’s most individual composers, though sadly Lyell Cresswell is no longer with us, having died in 2022.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra will be marking this anniversary with a concert including the first performance of Cresswell’s Third Piano Concerto.

And Te Herenga Waka Victoria University Press will shortly be releasing his intriguingly-titled autobiography, Divagations, Doodlings and Downright Lies.

Scilla Askew, who edited the book with Dame Gillian Whitehead, talks with RNZ Concert's David Morriss about Lyell Cresswell and his musical legacy.