Words and Music
A Tale of Two Cellos Review
Dynamic Duo
A Tale of Two Cellos Disc of the Day: The cello duo Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber present on this Naxos disc their engaging recital programme more or less from Cadogan Hall last week. He, dishevelled but suave, and she, enjoying his witticisms and playing the more difficult part in a Vivaldi arrangement not on the disc, lean in towards each other in intense dialogue for Piazzolla’s waltz Chiquilin de Bachin.
Mostly they play in soothing thirds and sixths, as in the opener Schubert’s Ave Maria where they mollify the song’s regret. Counterpoint comes with Purcell’s Lost is my Quiet which in concert Julian dedicated to the disturbed nights since Jiaxin gave birth to their daughter three years ago. They play the Tune-A-Day hit Sweet and Low with lulling beautiful tone.
In concert, he let her have a go on his Stradivarius here, and her sound rang mellow and light. Missing from the concert is brother Andrew’s Pie Jesu, but not father William’s Moon Silver, a gentle three-time dance of wistful elegance. Harpist Catrin Finch plays the accompaniment in the Dolorosa from Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and cellist Guy Johnston in the Monteverdi madrigal Interotte speranza, giving us the burning vibrancy of three cellos and harp in the most exquisite of Baroque dissonances. Loveliest though comes last in Arvo Paert’s Estonian Lullaby which stutters, starts and ends mid-phrase like one nodding off…..
Rick Jones
