Frederick Delius had a strong champion in the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, who praised the composer as “the last great apostle of romantic beauty in music”. This rhapsodic intensity of feeling is nowhere more evident than in the luscious harmonies of his exquisite idylls, The Walk to the Paradise Garden and On Hearing The First Cuckoo In Spring. La Calinda, from Delius’ second opera, Koanga, has achieved worldwide popularity.