Trouw 8th December 1993
JULIAN LLOYD WEBBER’S DEBUT AT THE CONCERTGEBOUW AMSTERDAM
Monday 6th December 1993 – Shostakovich Cello Concerto
LLOYD WEBBER TASTES THE INTENSE MELANCHOLY OF SHOSTAKOVICH
I get goose-flesh from the motif with which Dmitri Shostakovich starts his first Cello Concerto. It sounds as if someone is whistling in the dark, afraid but nevertheless brave.
On Monday night in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw cellist Julian Lloyd Webber presented that motif in a totally natural way; he also highlighted the undertone of melancholy that is so present in this concerto. The atmosphere of desolation showed itself most clearly in the long cadenza which forms the third movement of four movements.
I was afraid that the rather bronchial audience would disturb that delicate solo-reverie on the strings. But the intensity that Lloyd Webber gave in his presentation forced everyone into breathless attention.
That cadenza is placed between orchestral sections which have a quasi-cheerful and sometimes chaotic atmosphere: the cellist is either leading or being dragged along; the duets are beautiful, especially those with the hornplayer. His signals sounded loud and dramatic from the far back of the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, but they also sounded comical, because the flexible cello gives the lumbering horn a lot to do. Fortunately conductor Vassili Sinaiski was able to count on his alert musicians.
