Evocative writings about the formative years and music of New Zealand's foremost classical composer, Douglas Lilburn. Most of these pieces have never before been published or collected: talks, reminiscences, essays, memoirs -- of Rita Angus, Evelyn Page, Charles Brasch, Alex Lindsay, John Mansfield Thomson, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Ravi Shankar -- and an excerpt from Lilburn's film score Journey for Three. Memories of Early Years reveals how deeply Lilburn was indebted to his boyhood at Drysdale station for his Wordsworthian love of nature. As a man Lilburn continued to assimilate the experience of the farm, and his composition and writing show his delight in the rhythms of the seasons.