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.
