Gramophone April 2015
Editor’s Choice
Delius Two Aquarelles (arr. Fenby) Elgar Chanson de nuit, Op 15 No 1. Chanson de matin, Op 15 No 2 (both arr. WH Reed). Introduction and Allegro, Op 47. Serenade, Op 20. Sospiri, Op 70 Goodall ‘And the Bridge is Love’ Ireland A Downland Suite – No 3, Minuet W Lloyd Webber ‘The Moon’ Vaughan Williams The Charterhouse Suite – No 1, Prelude Walton Henry V – Passacaglia: Death of Falstaff; Touch her soft lips and part English Chamber Orchestra / Julian Lloyd Webber vc Naxos © 8573250 (70’. DDD)
A neck injury may have forced Julian Lloyd Webber to retire from the concert platform as a soloist but this conspicuously accomplished programme demonstrates he also possesses a considerable talent for wielding the conductor’s baton. Howard Goodall’s poignantly elegiac And the Bridge is Love for solo cello, strings and harp (composed for the 2008 Chipping Campden Festival) gets top billing on the cover; needless to report, Lloyd Webber plays with total commitment in what was his final recording as a soloist – and the ECO is with him every step of the way. There are three more world premiere recordings: Elgar’s Chanson de nuit and Chanson de matin are heard in WH (‘Billy’) Reed’s wonderfully idiomatic transcriptions(and most disarmingly Lloyd Webber shapes them, too); and we also get a sweetly lyrical miniature, The Moon, by William Lloyd Webber (19 14-82).
However, what really make this anthology worth investigating are the strikingly articulate, scrupulously prepared and consistently involving readings of the remaining British masterworks for string orchestra, for which Lloyd Webber displays a striking affinity. In his imaginative hands Elgar’s towering Introduction and Allegro has a big-hearted candour, contrapuntal clarity and bracing vigour that make you sit up and listen. Nor could anyone miss the very real sense of heartache and shuddering passion that inform Sospiri (where the harmonium contribution is most tastefully integrated within the luminously textured whole). The Serenade, too, comes off very well, Lloyd Webber procuring playing of unruffled poise, generous depth of feeling and alluring tonal lustre from the ECO. Elsewhere, Delius’s Two Aquarelles are essayed with exceptional perception (I was put in mind of Norman Del Mar’s incomparably poetic way with this music), while both Walton’s Henry V diptych and the delectable Minuet from Ireland’s A Downland Suite receive raptly communicative and ideally pliable treatment.
Admirably produced by Andrew Keener, and with sound emanating from Watford Town Hall that is rich and glowingly realistic to match (take a bow, Mike Hatch), this enormously enjoyable Naxos anthology deserves every success, and I for one look forward to future releases under Julian Lloyd Webber’s personable lead.
Andrew Achenbach
