A Country Programme
The Station Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Busfield
Siegfried the hero, having killed a dragon and tasted its blood, is able to understand the voices of nature. Resting under a tree, he listens to the murmur of the forest's life. He would imitate the birds' songs, and cuts himself a reed from which he fashions a pipe. Then his thoughts turn to his mother, who died when he was born, and the music clouds over for a moment, only to resume its sunny course with a new theme. The whole episode is one of the loveliest scenes Wagner ever wrote.