Sunrise offically today in Sheffield is set at 04.37. A Blackbird was singing an hour earlier than this. This bird is the greatest star among native birds. As the season progresses his music improves, developing in confidence and melodic quality. Earlier on it may have been more intense, even nervy, but by now it's possible to detect a rhapsodic element and a fruitier tone.
There are those, always will be, who scorn our enjoyment of bird song on this level. I've always felt instinctively that there is common ground between great music and the natural sounds of birds. We know that birds are marking out their claims to territories and declaring their self importance as something to be reckoned with. There are few human musicians to whom this has not applied.
Delius' First Cuckoo might conceivably have been even better if he had written about the Blackbird yet his Song Before Sunrise captures something of the joy in natural beauty.
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