Delius: On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring

The best-loved and most popular works by Frederick Delius, performed by the world’s leading artists, in an accessible format at budget price as part of the ESSENTIAL CLASSICS series.

‘Whatever should I do without Beecham?’ Delius said. “I should be content with a few superlative performances like these every year, rather than the mediocre ones I too often hear.” These final stereo recordings are the summation of Beecham's devotion to a composer whose music he loved deeply.

Frederick Delius (1862-1934) was born in Bradford of parents who had been born in Germany. His father was a successful wool merchant and although he allowed his son to study music he did not regard it as a career option. On leaving school he therefore joined the wool company but he proved unreliable; he did, however, visit Norway and Paris on the firm’s business and met life-long friends. In 1884 he was allowed to go to Florida as an orange grower. This gave him freedom from family pressures – he neglected the oranges but studied music and was greatly influenced by the music of the plantation negroes. He developed one of the most individual and easily recognisable harmonic and melodic styles of composition. He was strongly supported by the eminent conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham, who gave numerous performances of his work and clearly established an appreciation for it amongst its listeners. Some critics have remarked that whilst his formula for composition was artistically successful it was so but within a strictly defined and narrow emotional and expressive range – certainly this is borne out by the popularity of the shorter works which form the vast majority of this collection, especially the exquisite sensuous idylls catching the lights, sounds, perhaps even the smells of the English countryside.

His last ten years were blighted by illness and in 1928 Eric Fenby became his amanuensis thereby enabling the composer to complete a number of works including A Song of Summer.

He died virtually a recluse in Grez-sur-Loing and, as French law forbade his burial in his garden, his remains were removed from Grez’s cemetery after a year and moved to Limpsfield in Surrey.

Simply idyllic, this 2-CD set couples a traversal of English seasons (CD1) with idyllic music for cello and orchestra by English composers, all rapturously performed by the Academy and Marriner.

Daniel Barenboim's sumptuous performances of English music have long been favourites and here they are beautifully remastered with state-of-the-art technology for this release. Pinchas Zukerman's performance of The Lark Ascending is surely a stand-out among recordings of this work ('beautifully played, highly sympathetic performance' said Gramophone). What's more, the addition of Vaughan Williams's Tuba Concerto, making its first international appearance on CD, fills out this generous CD and collects together all of Barenboim's recordings of English music on one CD.

The details are unclear, but one thing is certain: our couple loves classical music. This recording tells a love story with a happy ending, through a number of short but elegant compositions. Even small-scale works can be great in their own way and, compiled in such a creative manner and performed by such excellent musicians, they offer the listener an hour of sheer amazement and amusement.

From Jacques Ibert's Divertissement for chamber orchestra (when the couple first meet), via Anton Heberle's Concerto in G major (the wedding music) through to Peter Heidrich's Variations on Happy Birthday (the happy ending and final celebration), the orchestra accompanies the couple not only when they indulge their liking of tea during their honeymoon, but adding music from all eras as a backdrop to their relationship.

Since its establishment in 1935, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana has enjoyed a status as one of Switzerland's best-known orchestras, working regularly with renowned conductors and prestigious soloists.

On this recording, the ensemble is conducted by the English conductor Howard Griffiths, who has guest conducted many leading orchestras worldwide and is currently GMD of the Brandenburg State Orchestra. The soloists are Maurice Steger (recorder), who was hailed in The Independent newspaper as "the world's leading recorder virtuoso", and the pianist Davide Cabassi, finalist at the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

The arrangements heard here are by skilled musicians such as Percy Grainger, Philip Heseltine and Eric Fenby. They were adept at distributing the main theme and other interesting passages between the two players. The works in this volume include On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, Brigg Fair and Dance Rhapsody No.1.

With the sublime The Lark Ascending as its centrepiece, this collection illustrates the way that Vaughan Williams and his contemporaries expressed their national identity, drawing inspiration from folk song, landscape, poetry and the rich history of British music. With favourites by Elgar, Delius, Butterworth and Walton––including Elgar’s unforgettable Introduction and Allegro and Delius’s Summer Night on the River––the works gathered here are romantic, nostalgic and quintessentially British.