The BBC
Welsh Orchestra
Leader, Frank Thomas
Conductor, Idris Lewis
Many musicians consider that of all the great variety of national folk song the Celtic, which consists of the four main streams of Irish, Gaelic, Cymric, and Breton, is the most beautiful and expressive. Indeed, Dr. Ernest Walker, discussing Irish folk song, goes so far as to say that 'For sheer beauty of melody, the works of Mozart, Schubert, and the Irish folk-composers form a triad that is unchallenged in the whole range of the art ... these particular inspirations show a flawless spontaneity of utterance, an instinctive feeling for loveliness and dignity of phrase as such, that we do not find elsewhere in anything like the same profusion.'