Accompanist: Christopher Williams 
Elgar International Festival of Brass
The Bradshaw Hall
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
Sunday 7th June 

The decision of David Childs to take a sabbatical from his teaching commitments in the USA will enable many more people to be enthralled by an artist who stands shoulder to shoulder with any orchestral brass performer in the world.

Once again that was confirmed by this outstanding recital appearance – one that deserved to have been played to a packed hall at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

It was worth the price of the £50 day ticket alone. Those who will pay that and more to hear him at the BBC Proms next month alongside Black Dyke Band, will think that will have been a snip.

Artistry

This was unquestionable artistry; the chromium polish of his technique subservient to his tonal command, the musical integrity of each work endorsed completely.  That was also true of his colleague Christopher Williams, whose intuitive accompaniment was a stunning exemplar of reactive sensitivity.

Sarasate’s ‘Zigeunerweisen’  and Mantia’s ‘Endearing Young Charms’  were old favourites played with a poise that illuminated clarity and style rather than frenetic dazzle.  

Cait Nishimura’s ‘Hiraeth’  and Ludovico Einaudi’s ‘Due Tramonti’  which took the breath way in appreciation of phrase, texture and dynamic – a deep sense of longing and tender reflection settling on a captivated audience. 

Telling beauty came with the contrasts of Cait Nishimura’s ‘Hiraeth’  and Ludovico Einaudi’s ‘Due Tramonti’  (both from his latest ‘Still Glides the Stream’ CD release) which took the breath way in appreciation of phrase, texture and dynamic – a deep sense of longing and tender reflection settling on a captivated audience. 

Hemingwayesque

The centrepiece was a stunning performance of Peter Graham’s ‘Force of Nature’  concerto (which he will also perform at the Albert Hall), which pays homage to American novelist Ernest Hemingway. 

Flamboyance, passion and colour blazed in the opening ‘Matador’,  inspired by the writer’s appreciation of the dangers of the Pamplona bull fights he captured in the prose of ‘The Sun also Rises’.

It was as imposing in its brilliance as its inspiration – ‘Hemingwayesque’ in personality and character in every sense.

The literary reflections of a journey that saw him leave his quiet Midwest home for the Italian Front of the First World War were recalled with the remote tenderness of the central ‘Wayfarer’,  although the ‘Pilar’  finale was a wave-crashing portrait of the ultimate thrill seeking adventurer – big game fishing on his yacht ‘Pilar’ on the Cuban seas. 

It was as imposing in its brilliance as its inspiration – ‘Hemingwayesque’ in personality and character in every sense.

Iwan Fox