DELIUS, Frederick (1862-1934)
ON HEARING THE FIRST CUCKOO IN SPRING
Concert Classics Series GMCL147
Level of Difficulty
Attributing a particular level of difficulty to an orchestral piece is awkward!
A piece may be easy for the strings but difficult for the brass; it may feature a tricky instrumental solo but the other parts may be relatively straight forward. A number of the arrangements listed are designed to simplify works to some extent but composers of many original works featured did not consider difficulty when writing them.
What our levels mean:
A = for players up to UK Grade 3
B = Grade 3 to 5
C = Grade 4 to 6
D = Grade 5 to 7
E = Grade 6 to 8
F = Grade 7 and over
Our gradings should be taken only as a rough guide.
To be sure if a piece is suitable for you, take a look at the score.
Orchestration
Flute, Oboe, 2 Clarinets in Bb, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns in F
Strings (Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Double Bass)
Frederick Delius was born in Bradford in Yorkshire, the fourth of fourteen children of Julius and Elise Pauline Delius who had moved to England from Bielefeld, Germany to set themselves up in the woollen business. His father wanted Frederick to work in the family business, but Frederick had other ideas and pursued a career in music living most of his life abroad in the United States and continental Europe especially France.
"On hearing the first cuckoo in spring" was written in 1912 and became one of the "Two Pieces for small orchestra", the other being "Summer night on the river" (which is also available in the Goodmusic Concert Classics Series (no. GMCL148).
Duration: 6 minutes
A PACK comprises an A4 sized full score plus a complete set of parts including strings 4/4/3/4/2.
Audio Sample
Click the play button below to hear a performance which has been computer-generated from the score.