Mail on Sunday 3rd October 2004
Philip Glass Cello Concerto
Philip Glass
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
with Julian Lloyd Webber
(Orange Mountain)
Another who straddles the divide between popular and serious music is the American minimalist Philip Glass, whose score or the movie The Hours earned him an Oscar nomination.
He has formed his own label to record some of his concertos. The first offering, recorded earlier this year in Liverpool, couples the lightweight Concerto For Two Percussionists and Orchestra with the altogether more substantive Cello Concerto, commissioned by Julian Lloyd Webber and beautifully played by him.
Lasting more than half an hour, this makes great demands on the soloist, not least in the absorbing three-minute partially accompanied cadenza that begins the work. It is blessed with a rich tapestry of engaging musical ideas that belies the reputation of minimalism as just an excuse to endlessly repeat the same melodic cell.
The first movement has some delightful interplay between soloist and woodwind, while in the slow movement the strings introduce some of the melodic ideas, with the cello ruminating h and around the. theme to often magical effect. This concerto was premiered by Lloyd Webber n Beijing in 2001 and has yet to receive its British premiere. Until then this excellent CD will certainly suffice.
