Edward Johnson writes…
Greetings! … As most people in the music world already know, Michael Tilson Thomas is retiring from conducting following a long illness. This coming Saturday (26th) he’ll be conducting for the last time, his 80th Birthday concert with the San Francisco Symphony when, in his own words, “It’s a wrap.”
His immense discography champions several modern British composers, including Simon Bainbridge, Robin Holloway and Oliver Knussen, but none of the older generation, such as Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Holst. However, there is one exception from that era which features on a CD of twelve short pieces from assorted composers issued in 2014. It’s Delius’s “On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring” which the San Francisco SO had evidently rarely played but did so quite beautifully for that recording.
Here it is as a tiny tribute to MTT! …
Happy listening!
EdJ