Those living in warmer climes may scoff - but here in the south of England at last the sun is shining and it feels warm. This winter was the coldest for the last 31 years; yes, other countries have much colder climates and survive, but on BBC national television this morning, five separate reporters and camera crews were in five different locations throughout the country, earnestly filming emergent daffodil leaves and crocuses. So it's big news. (And Yorkshire and Scotland haven't got there yet.)

I think that the poet Hermann Hesse and composer Richard Strauss must each have lived through something similar to have written the ecstatic text and exultant music for 'Fruhling' from Strauss's Four Last Songs - that paean of praise to Spring after the dark winter. Here it is, sung by Gundula Janowitz. Must go, the garden beckons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhxzxjCpPfQ