NATIONAL RECOGNITION

Brigg Fair - the famous piece by Delius - was yesterday named as one of the greatest of the great pieces of classical music.
That's a very fitting tribute, as this year will be the 100th anniversary of the first performance of the composer's classic rhapsody.
In a huge feature article, the Sunday Telegraph magazine listed 100 Classical Albums You Must Hear on CD, selected by music critic Michael Kennedy.
And one of the few to be marked 'Must Buy' was Delius' Brigg Fair.
Selected was the Sir Thomas Beecham interpretation, described as a 'magical performance of the English rhapsody Brigg Fair, especially in the misty introduction that conjours up an early morning'.
Back in 1905, Percy Grainger visited Brigg to collect folk songs and heard local man Joseph Taylor performing Brigg Fair, which Grainger recorded and adapted.
Delius heard the version, liked it and used the song as the basis for an orchestral work, first performed in 1908.
Grainger's recorded version included the lines:
It was on the fifth of August-er' the weather fine and fair,
Unto Brigg Fair I did repair, for love I was inclined.
Today, of course, we still celebrate Brigg Fair at that time of year, and the song is still performed from time to time.