The Washington Post 18th January 1994
Rachmaninov Cello Sonata
Julian Lloyd Webber
With more than 30 recordings to his credit, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber need never fear about living in his brother Andrew’s shadow. And while concert artists rarely win mass acclaim – and of the few that do, still fewer are cellists – Julian Lloyd Webber’s star shines brightly in that small constellation of the deserving few.
Saturday night’s performance at the Jewish Community Center in Rockville showed why this should be so. Lloyd Webber brought a fine touch and a keen intellect to all that he and pianist John Lenehan played. Architecture was always in place, and each piece on this most challenging program conveyed a sense of journey, of departure and arrival.
The sweetest moments came in the most delicate exchanges – in Bach’s “Ich stehe mit einem Fuss im Grabe”, the Prologue to the Debussy Sonata, and, not surprisingly, in the gentle unfolding of Faure’s “Elegie”. All were crafted with the greatest of care – down to the triple-piano markings – and dispatched with exact intonation.
Lloyd Webber and Lenehan evinced the skills and vision to make the music memorable even when in the case of the Rachmaninov Sonata and the Frank Bridge encore, neglect might have consigned them to a different fate.
-Mark Carrington
