The Kestrel's Song

This was the winner of the BBC Pebble Mill - WWF Sounds Natural competition held in 1982. Indeed it was this piece that brought us to the attention of Ivan Hattingh, then Head of Education at WWF-UK.

The song describes the thoughts of a kestrel as it hovers above the motorway. It can't help but feel sadness for the humans as car after car hurtles down the carriageway. From the safety of the sky, the Kestrel watches "all the madness of these men rushing blindly onwards". The fog descends, but the traffic rushes on, until the inevitable disaster happens.

Published: Josef Weinberger, for Voices and Piano