Relayed from the National Museum of Wales.
National Orchestra of Wales
Forest Murmurs gives us not only a lovely picture of the busy life of nature in the woodland, but an emotional impression of the thoughts of the young Siegfried. He muses on his mother, who died when he was born, and then listens to the songs of the birds, of which he can now understand the meaning.
Hermann Zilcher (born 1881), son of a composer, did well at the Frankfort Conservatoire and then toured widely with Vecsey, the violinist. At the age of twenty-seven he was Professor of Pianoforte and Composition at the Munich Academy, and since 1920 has directed the work at the Conservatoire of Wurzburg.
His compositions include a considerable number of song cycles, music for a German folk-song play, two symphonies (one of which we are to hear), a Violoncello Concerto, incidental music to one or two Shakespeare plays, and choral works.
