Rodrigo Concierto Como Un Divertimento

Musical Opinion April 2010

Romantic Cello Concertos CD

JULIAN LLOYD WEBBER: ROMANTIC CELLO CONCERTOS

Rodrigo: Concierto como un divertimento; Delius: Concerto for cello and orchestra+;

Lalo: Cello Concerto in D minor

Julian Lloyd Webber, cello; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, conductor; +Philharmonia Orchestra, Vernon Handley, conductor

Sony Music 88697570022

1 hour 17 minutes

This welcome reissue contains three of the soloists best concerto performances, especially the Delius (which is inspired). The work that Rodrigo wrote for Lloyd Webber, with its arresting bolero opening and sustained melodic interest, was first heard in 1982; the Sunday Times verdict of sumptuously listenable-to’ remains the most apt epithet The Lalo has always been a valuable contribution to the restricted cello repertoire with its appealing blend of strength and fancy all clothed in highly effective writing for the instrument, one wonders why it is not heard more. Both these concertos need a conductor who is thoroughly at home in the Spanish idiom and can bring his own flair to the proceedings (just as Pedro de Freitas Branco did in the case of the Lalo on the old Decca 78s with the legendary Suggia). López-Cobos is ideally cast here in support of his flamboyant soloist, and the extremely happy results carry to the listener.

The Cello Concerto was Delius’s favourite among his three string concertos, admired not only by Percy Grainger and others in his immediate circle but (perhaps a little surprisingly) by Elgar, who said he yearned to conduct it. Delius’s amanuensis Eric Fenby attributed its relative neglect to its difficulty and its rhapsodic form, though this particular recording has shown ever since its first incarnation on LP that the two essential requirements are a cellist and a conductor who thoroughly understand Delius’s idiom and can get inside his sound-world: in other words, two Delians through and through. Lloyd Webber and Vernon Handley both on top form and in perfect harmony of understanding, fully meet these requirements in this finely- tuned conception: with the newly-remastered recording sounding better than ever, this performance maintains its position as first choice.

Lyndon Jenkins

Mail on Sunday January 10th, 2010

Romantic Cello Concertos CD

JULIAN LLOYD WEBBER: ROMANTIC CELLO CONCERTOS ****

If you like musical discoveries, Julian Lloyd Webber does a fine job with three easily overlooked cello concertos by Joaquin Rodrigo, Frederick Delius and Edouard Lalo. His generously filled 77-minute reissue of excellent recordings made in the Eighties is ideal for those who think romantic cello concertos begin and end with Elgar and Dvorak. Julian himself commissioned the Rodrigo from the then 80-year-old blind Spaniard, and although it’s just a bit of froth, it’s really charming, and will appeal to anyone who loves the same composer’s celebrated Aranjuez concerto.

The Delius is a considerable work, written just four years after Elgar’s concerto, and tirelessly espoused by Beatrice Harrison, who did so much to make the Elgar acceptable. Unlike the meticulously planned Elgar, it’s rhapsodic and sprawling in typical Delius style, but treasurable too.

David Mellor

Yorkshire Post 13th November 2009

Romantic Cello Concertos CD

JULIAN LLOYD WEBBER: ROMANTIC CELLO CONCERTOS ****

One of the jewels among Delius recordings, Julian Lloyd Webber’s loving, relaxed and extraordinarily beautiful account of the Cello Concerto creates a scene of autumnal reverie. It contrasts with a robust reading of the Lalo, with the London Philharmonic adding suitable weight. Rodrigo’s ‘Concierto como un divertimento’ was composed for him, its demanding passages flying around the instrument’s fingerboard, Lloyd Webber capturing its many changing moods with impressive playing. Good 1980s sound and a gift at this price.

David Denton

The Scotsman November 2009

Romantic Cello Concertos CD

JULIAN LLOYD WEBBER: ROMANTIC CELLO CONCERTOS ****

JOAQUIN Rodrigo is perhaps best known for his popular Concerto de Aranjuez for guitar, but in the 1980s – when he was in his eighties – he wrote a concerto for cellist Julian Lloyd Webber that is every bit as exotic and tuneful. Accordingly, it fits well with the title of Lloyd Webber’s latest disc, Romantic Cello Concertos, and sits easily with the lush and slithering chromaticism of Delius’s concerto and the hot-blooded romanticism of Lalo’s.

These are a repackaging of earlier separate releases by Lloyd Webber, and so feature different orchestras and conductors. With Vernon Handley and the Philharmonia, he digs deep into the passionate soul of the Delius. With Jesus Lopez-Cobos and the London Philharmonic, the Rodrigo is by far the more perfect and invigorating performance.

BBC Music Magazine June 2001

Julian Lloyd Webber plays the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

Works by Rodrigo, Villa-Lobos, Lola, Saint-Saëns, Delius, etc

Julian Lloyd Webber (cello); LPO/Jesus

Lopez-Codas, National PO/Charles

Gerhardt, Philharmonia Orchestral

Vernon Handley

BMG marks Julian Lloyd Webber’s half-century by revisiting some of his memorable RCA recordings of the early Eighties. It’s surprising that the agreeably tuneful concerto written for him in 1979 by Joaquin Rodrigo has not been mote widely embraced by other cellists. Only now, some 19 years after its Royal Festival Hall premiere, has it found its way on to CD, though Lloyd Webber’s performance is just as magnetic as I remembered from LP days, and BMC’s new CD transfer is excellent.

Disc 1 of this compilation also includes works by Villa-Lobos, Falla, Poppet and others, and Lloyd Webber’s nobly measured account of the Lalo Concerto has a degree of purposeful gravitas that commands attentive listening. However, the British works grouped on the second disc reveal Lloyd Webber’s finest interpretative attributes, especially in a reading of the Delius Concerto that’s much the finest since do Pre’s, and arguably more plausible and engrossing fur what it leaves to the imagination of the listener. Lloyd Webber’s more introspective style comes closet to capturing the fleeting spirit of the work than does du Pre’s full-on ardour, and the recording is again first class. A hearty birthday feast that’s well worth investigating.

Michael Jameson

PERFORMANCE ****

SOUND ****

Stereo Review June 1984

Julian Lloyd Webber plays the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

RODRIGO: Cello Concerto. LALO: Cello Concerto in D Minor.

Julian Lloyd Webber (cello); London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jesus Lopez-Cobos cond.

RCA ARL1-4665 $10.98

Performance: Excellent

Recording: Excellent

Joaquin Rodrigo’s Cello Concerto was premiered by Julian Lloyd Webber, for whom it was written, in 1982, but it is certainly hard to think of it as a work of the late twentieth century. Except for the orchestration, which is very distinctive and imaginative, the concerto is a light, highly flavored, Spanish-style work of a most traditional character. This is not to deny its charm a quality certainly in short supply these days. The Lalo was written well over a century earlier. Unlike the composer’s Symphonic espagnole for violin and orchestra, it has only a trace or two of Spanish flavor. The first movement is conventional Romantic bombast, but the middle movement, an intermezzo, is quite elegant, and the lively finale is engaging.

Julian Lloyd Webber is an excellent cellist and makes a fine impression in this music. It was his idea to go to Spain to seek out Rodrigo and convince him to write a concerto, and he has recorded it in fine style.

E.S.

Die Welt 9th February 1894

Julian Lloyd Webber plays the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

Works by J. Druckman and J. Rodrigo ‘Toastbrot’ from the Alhambra

In Berlin the Philharmonic, conducted by Richard Dufallo, performed two greatly contrasted German premieres. It proved to be a bewildering display of past and present in contemporary music and showed the artistic diversity of two modern composers. They gave us Jacob Druckman’s “Aureole” -for a large orchestra, and the Cello Concerto “in the form of a divertimento” by Joaquin Rodrigo, who, at 82, is almost a generation older.

Druckman, for the ten minutes or so his composition takes to play, uses a huge orchestra. Rodrigo uses a smaller yet more resonant version in an almost indolent yet always highly colourful manner. Druckman gathers the tone colours into a ring-like form with a melodious ‘solitaire’ in the middle: a Bernstein quote from the “Kaddish” Symphony. And it was probably this zeal in paying homage from a composer no longer in the first flush of youth which enthused Bernstein to sponsor the work’s first performance in New York.

Dufallo is quite a different character who tends to tackle things a little soberly. Musically he presents the works just as they are and not always to their advantage. A little more persuasion to help them along can surely be expended by a conductor without his being suspected of overacting on the rostrum.

It says a great deal for the elderly Rodrigo’s sparkle that his Cello Concerto held our attentions so enjoyably and Julian Lloyd Webber, who commissioned the work from Rodrigo, played with fire and passion: he is a captivating, masterly performer.

Rodrigo – whose “Concierto Aranjuez” for guitar has become a world-famous classical bestseller? does not get involved in ‘contemporary’ music, which is understandable at his advanced age. He has continued past it composing melodious, if virtuosic, music. For the cello – traveller in the warm south – he has served a musical bonbon spiced, as it were, a l’espanol.

Right from the beginning the bolero rhythm is heard and later there is a seguidilla or flamenco-type dance as well, while the orchestra assists the soloist’s nimble fingers with discreet interjections of considerable charm. In the second movement the solo instrument is allowed to do what it was fundamentally created for; it sings abundantly. An Andante Nostalgico, interrupted only by a tortuous cadenza, conjures up moonlit nights over the Alhambra – without the pickpockets and screeching gypsies. After this the finale is devoted once again to the cello’s rousing call of ‘Ole’. An unashamedly entertaining, lightweight piece, the cello repertoire has long lacked a work of this kind. It is as beneficial to the digestion as crisp white ‘toastbrot’ and is good for anyone suffering from heartburn after hearing too much modern music.

KLAUS GEITEL

The New York Times 1st January 1984

Julian Lloyd Webber plays the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

Young Cellist Excels in Varied Repertory

Another young cellist who is making a considerable reputation for himself, particularly in Europe, is Julian Lloyd Webber, a British player who seems to nave a special interest in conservative 20th-century music. The first of his two most recent disks features a work he commissioned in 1979, the “Concierto como un Divertimento” by the Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo. This is a slight departure for Rodrigo. While the outer movements retain the kind of Iberian folk flavor that has been an identifying hallmark of Rodrigo’s music of the last 45 years, the central movement features a simple cello melody set over a misty, delicate and almost atonal backdrop. At the center of this unusual movement, he provides an attractive cadenza that moves between plucked guitar-like figuration and bowed chords, and which seems, at its climax, to refer to the cadenza of the “Concierto de Aranjuez,” Rodrigo best known work.

The Lalo Concerto, although a 19th-century work, is a logical companion piece: Like the Rodrigo, it makes references to typically Spanish melodic materials, while demanding the kind of Romantic expressivity that the cello yields so willingly. Mr. Webber brings a fulsome tone and an understated flair to both works (British RCA RL 25420, digitally imported by International Book and Record).

He seems even more at home, however, on his second disk, which features neglected works for cello and orchestra by Delius, Hoist and Vaughan Williams (British RCA RS 9010, digital). The Delius is, tor the most part, a bright, leisurely score that abounds in sweeping pastoral writing and lovely, extended cello lines that allow Mr. Webber to display his considerable facility without seeming unduly theatrical. Hoist’s early “Invocation” gives the cellist even sweeter material, and the “Fantasia on Sussex Folk Songs,” composed for Casals, is a lush piece with a surprisingly extroverted cadenza that seems a bit incongruous amid the simplicity of the folk tunes.

Allan Kozinn

Detroit Free Press 7th January 1984

Julian Lloyd Webber plays the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

DSO presents British cellist and his new Spanish concerto

Three debuts ushered in 1984 for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s audience Thursday night at Ford Auditorium.

The debutantes were Japanese conductor Hiroshi Wakasugi, British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and the new; cello concerto Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo wrote for Lloyd Webber.

LLOYD WEBBER and the concerto provided more satisfaction than Wakasugi. Commissioned by Lloyd Webber and dedicated to him, the concerto, which the composer titled “Concierto como un Divertimento,” was completed in 1980. Thursday night marked its American debut.

It is a tasteful work of sunny disposition, with pleasant melodies, vital rhythms, piquant harmonies and logical formal organization. It is also deftly scored – the orchestral accompaniment is of chamber size – and manages to be wholly accessible and considerably fresh at the same time. The performance suffered somewhat from Wakasugi’s often sluggish and tentative orchestral accompaniment, but that may have been due to insufficient rehearsal time.

LLOYD WEBBER had no such problems. He played the new concerto with conviction and fervor, and with a technique that seems totally secure. He tore through the fiendishly difficult double-stops, rapid scales and bouncing bow passages of the second-movement cadenza with consummate skill, and produced elegantly soulful sound in the major melodic passages scattered through the work. He obviously believes strongly in the concerto’s merit, and made a most convincing case for it.

The audience response to the concerto was highly favorable, something not normally associated with contemporary pieces. “When was the last time,” I overheard a woman say at intermission, “you heard a modern piece with a melody?”

Wakasugi, who was born in 1935 and who has made his career primarily with European orchestras,opened the program with Charles Griffes’ orchestration of his 1915 piano piece, “The White Peacock,” And while its vaguely impressionistic measures were detailed with precision, I think the original piano version is stronger.

THE PROGRAM closed with Schumann’s First Symphony (“Spring”). Everyone knows the problems inherent in Schumann’s four symphonies, especially his clumsy orchestrations and blunt developmental ideas. But the music, given the right interpretation, can transcend those limitations, providing a unique, if eccentric, satisfaction; Wakasugi’s reading didn’t do that. It was frenzied rather than sweet, stodgy rather than playful, overly driven rather than graceful. He controlled the orchestra with more success than he did in the concerto (although his sound balances were often out of kilter), but he missed the special magic this music contains.

John Guinn

Wellington Evening Post 11th April 1983

Julian Lloyd Webber plays the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

Cellist’s fire, poise highlight of concert

When Julian Lloyd Webber plays the cello he gives all of himself to the music. Flashing fire at his finger tips and tone that sensitively sings, this was playing of instant communication.

“Concierto como un divertimento,” which he presented on Saturday night, was commissioned by Lloyd Webber from Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo.

He wanted from the 80-year-old composer a work with orchestra that would show off his superlative cello accomplishment and as well, easily make friends with audiences. Joaquin Rodrigo seems to have come up with the goods.

His “Concierto como un divertimento” has something of the appeal that made Rodrlgo’s “Concerto de Aranjuez” for guitar a popular piece. Tunes that fall placidly on the ear, cello pizzicati that suggest the guitar, lively rhythms, all these contribute to what is popularly accepted as a Spanish flavour.

Moreover, Rodrigo has not spared himself in devising fiendish difficulties for the cello. Lloyd Webber seemed to toss these off with reckless abandon; except that he was never reckless. This was a beautifully poised, yet exciting performance.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the orchestral accompaniment.

This was Hans-Hubert Schonzeler’s first concert with NZSO as guest conductor. From the beginning of the Tchaikowsky overture, and through its performance, conductor and orchestra had apparently not come to terms with each other.

When it came to the Dvorak symphony, Hans-Hubert Schonzeler’s indecisive, somewhat wayward beat had the orchestra guessing. This did not make for precision nor spark off Dvorak’s rhapsodic romanticism.

Dvorak’s Symphony No 6 is music of much delight. Saturday night, the pleasures emerged as through a glass, darkly.

This was surely not one of Hans-Hubert Schonzeler’s best occasions. His second Wellington NZSO concert next Friday night should make more friends.

Guitarist Julian Bream will be Friday night’s soloist. He will be playing Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” which will make It something of a Rodrigo week.

By Owen Jenson

Fanfare USA January 1983

Julian Lloyd Webber and the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

Despite his 80 years, Joaquin Rodngo remains a vital compositional force in Spanish musical life and one of the last great Romantics. (Who said Rachmaninolf was the last one?) Just last spring Angel gave us a superb new recording of the cello concerto known as Concierto en modo gallanfe. Now RCA England has rushed on sale his second work in this form, the Concierlo como un Diveilimento, which had its premiere on April 15, 1982 by the forces which have participated in this tine recording.

The work is the result of Julian Lloyd Webber’s approach to the composer seeking a new work in September 1979. The composer worked for over a year to produce the concerto, which he ultimately dedicated to Webber. Upon first hearing, anyone familiar with Rodrigo’s other works will immediately recognize his musical fingerprints on this score – the trumpet triplets, the light staccato throughout the orchestra, and the omnipresent Spanish tone of the writing. It has light, delicious scoring. The pizzicato exchanges between the soloist and orchestral strings in the first movement combine with everything else to make this one of the . freshest new works-in years. I predict that it will become almost as popular as the Concierto de Aranfuez in years to come. The slow movement. Adagio Nostalgico, as originally labeled (on the disc), but Andante Nostalgico, as changed by the composer after the recording was already in production according to Webber, is an intense piece of virtuosity that ends with a dazzling cadenza complete with quadruple stopping, double-stopped sevenths, left-hand pizzicato, and all sorts of other show-stopping tactics woven around a plain but lovely melody. The finale returns to an overtly Spanish vein with boundless energy and a certain songfulness in the central portion.

The performance is splendid, with Webber obviously very much attuned to the music and completely familiarized with it, as should be the case considering his consultations with Rodrigo during its composition. The London Philharmonic and Jesus Lopez-Cobos also seem to be in complete sympathy and aid and abet the soloist at every turn. The recording is brilliantly transparent which is exactly what is needed. The pressing from Teldec in Germany is likewise superb.

The Lalo concerto on the other sine is given a full-blooded performance that is very satisfying in itself. I haven’t kept up with all the competing versions in recent years, being content with the recordings of S Tarker, Gendron, and Tortelier, all good but not currently in the domestic catalogs. (Tortelier never was, I think.) In any event, this is as satisfying and the sound is quite rich. It won’t disappoint anyone, though we might have wished for another unrecorded Rodrigo work as coupling.

J.B.

Gramophone August 1982

Julian Lloyd Webber plays the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

RODRIGO Concierto como un divertimento.

LALO Cello Concerto in D minor.

Julian Lloyd Webber(vlc): London Philharmonic Orchestra / Jesus Lopez-Cobos.

One wonders if Julian Lloyd Webber, before chasing off to Spain to commission a new cello concerto from Rodrigo, knew of the existence of the Concierto en modo galanie, written in 1949 and recorded recently by Robert Cohen (HMV ASD4198, 4/82). So the newest concerto must be regarded as No. 2, and what a delightful encore it makes. It is even more Spanish in feeling than the earlier work, the melodies of the outer movements having a strong local flavour. The first movement sets off in the friendliest way with a catchy main theme, and the hauntingly atmospheric Adagio nostalgico brings another tenderly sinuous melody which easily insinuates itself into the subconscious. The finale, a characteristic molo perpeiuo, also has an engaging central lyrical strain. Altogether this is a listening experience to make the hearer rejoice that Rodrigo has written yet another piece of distinction that goes out of its way to communicate and give pleasure in its melodic contours and its craftsmanship. The performance is wholly recommendable. Lloyd Webber is totally attuned to the spirit of the music, fully equal to its technical fireworks, and his playing is imbued with warmth. He is admirably accompanied and well recorded.

Ivan March

Sunday Times 25th April 1982

Julian Lloyd Webber and the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

I recalled the huge pleasure of hearing, the previous week, the new Rodrigo that “Concierto como un Divertimento” which the aged Spanish composer has written for Julian Lloyd Webber.

It is sumptuously listenable-to, a perfect example of good popular music which will endure and become standard repertoire. Its attractive melodies, striking rhythms and instrumental coups were totally conquering. The rare encore demanded by the audience indicated the work’s magic.

Derek Jewell

Sunday Times 18th April 1982

Julian Lloyd Webber and the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

THE chief interest of Thursday’s Festival Hall concert by the LPO under Jesus Lopez-Cobos centred around a novelty, a Concierto como un Divertimento for cello and orchestra commissioned by the soloist, Julian Lloyd Webber from the nearly octogenarian blind Spanish composer, Joaquin Rodrigo. Famed mainly for his two guitar concertos, Rodrigo has produced here a predictably pretty, pleasantly ear-tickling piece, full of authentic Spanish . rhythmic and melodic colour in a transparent score which sets the soloist in neat relief in all three movements.

On the other hand, he has spared Mr Lloyd Webber nothing in difficult and persistently wide-ranging passage-work which he tackled with enthusiastic address. The aged composer was present to share in the applause; it earned a repeat of the finale a not very common occurrence these days, and a measure of the new work’s direct appeal.

FELIX APRAHAMIAN

Gramophone August 1982

Julian Lloyd Webber plays the Rodrigo Cello Concerto

RODRIGO Concierto como un divertimento.

LALO Cello Concerto in D minor.

Julian Lloyd Webber(vlc): London Philharmonic Orchestra / Jesus Lopez-Cobos.

Ivan March