Description
Frederick Delius (1862-1934) wrote On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring in 1912 at a point in his career when he had finally achieved notable recognition as a composer in England – the country of his birth. It is the first of Two Pieces for Small Orchestra, the second piece being Summer Night on the River.
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring is a beautiful, pastoral soundscape peppered with the laconic cuckoo call. It sounds quintessentially English but was actually written in France and is largely based on an old Norwegian folk song called ‘In Ola Valley’, which had been introduced to Delius by the Australian composer, Percy Grainger. Delius’s version is, as critic R.W.S. Mendl described it, an “exquisite nature study”: a nostalgic idyll filled with Delius’s trademark glowing colours, gorgeous harmonies and glorious orchestration.
