There has been widespread critical acclaim for David Childs following his world premiere performance of Paul Mealor's new 'Euphonium Concerto' at the 'Welsh Proms' in Cardiff on 29th July.

Undoubted highlight

Writing in the Western Mail newspaper, critic Peter Collins gave the evening a four star review, calling it, '...the undoubted highlight' of all the 'delightful musical offerings'.

He went on to say that; '...it was played with great subtlety and skill' with the work having 'a mysterious, haunting quality... but also a lively sparkling edge that seemed to capture the essence of the Celtic soul'.

Collins added: 'The evocative opening and closing sections had a lilting beauty which enchanted the capacity audience', before summing the composition up by saying; 'This is a genuinely impressive new work which deserves to be heard in concert halls around this land and beyond'.

Delighted

David was understandably delighted with the response when he spoke to 4BR — especially as it also gained a standing ovation from the audience at St David's Hall in Cardiff.

Local media reports all contained praise for the euphonium star and for the music, whilst one member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra told 4BR that they were 'astounded' by his 'world class' performance.

Honour

David said: "It's always a great honour to perform at the Last Night of the Welsh Proms — especially conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes and having the opportunity to perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Paul's writing is so evocative and engaging that you could feel the audience being pulled into the music from the very opening. He is a wonderful composer who we are lucky to have been able to attract to write for the brass band medium.

I hope to be able to record the work in the future and give many more performances."

Paul's writing is so evocative and engaging that you could feel the audience being pulled into the music from the very openingDavid Childs.

Deep love

The work is inspired by a Gaelic poem about lost love, as Paul told 4BR before the event. "It tells the tale of a fisherman and his wife. She accompanies her love to the shores of the sea to wave him off; but, to her tragedy, he never returns.

Each day she returns to the sea and sings to him, but no answer ever comes. In the tradition of Celtic songs it is dark and full of passion and pain.

The song's lyrics show us the two sides of deep love — and there is no better performing in the world than David to show that."

Image — courtesy of David Childs