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Author: Julian Lloyd Webber

  • And the Bridge is Love

    Classic

    Classic FM Album of the Week, 23 February 2015

    In this his first recording as a conductor, Julian Lloyd Webber showcases a wide-ranging programme of English music for strings includes the world premiere of Howard Goodall’s moving And the Bridge is Love, in which Lloyd Webber plays cello in a farewell performance, after announcing his retirement from performing.

    There’s also the first ever recording of his father William Lloyd Webber’s The Moon, which was only performed for the first time in 2014.

    Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47, is complemented by novelties in the case of the never-before-recorded arrangements by Elgar’s friend and biographer W.H. Reed of the two Chansons – du Nuit and du Matin.

    This is a beautiful album, with an intriguing mix of the familiar and the unknown. All the signs are that the former cellist Julian Lloyd Webber could be turning into a very fine conductor indeed.

  • And the Bridge is Love: Interlude

    January 27th, 2015

    The Beauty of the English String Sound

    We forget how much the English contributed to the beauty of orchestral music through their lush pastoral string writing. And the Bridge is Love, a new recording by the English Chamber Orchestra led by Julian Lloyd-Webber, brings all of this back to us. The recording is centred on music by Elgar, with excursions into Vaughan Williams, Delius, and up to modern composers such as Howard Goodall. And, because this is led by cellist Lloyd-Webber, the cello sound comes through beautifully.

    Elgar, who really only achieved his breakthrough with the success of the Enigma Variations, begins the recording with two early 20th-century works: Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47 (1905) and 2 Sospiri, Op. 70 (1914), but later in the recording are arrangements by W.H. Reed, Elgar’s friend and biographer, of Elgar’s two Op. 15 works: the Chanson de nuit, Op. 15, No. 1 (1897) and the Chanson de matin, Op. 15, No. 2 (1899). Reed made these arrangements in 1939, but the works had originally been violin pieces, the second, written in 1897, dedicated to an amateur violinist in Worcester, and the first, written as a companion piece in 1899. The works were originally orchestrated by Elgar and performed in London in 1901, and these 1939 editions by Reed have never been recorded. They have a lighter feeling than Elgar’s arrangements and there’s a great deal of style in this performance.

    The composer William Lloyd-Webber, father of Julian and Andrew, was a student of Elgar’s and his influence is evident in the work here. The song, ‘The Moon,’ setting a text by the Welsh poet William Henry Davies (1871-1940) appeared in 1950. Soon after, the composer arranged it for strings and it has never been recorded until now, a century after his birth.

    Frederick Delius, quietly suffering in Paris from partial paralysis, had, as his amanuensis, the young composer Eric Fenby. Fenby made arrangements for string orchestra of two songs ‘to be sung of a summer’s night on the water,’ written for Charles Kennedy Scott and his Oriana Choir. The first performance of the a cappella work was in 1921. Fenby made his arrangements in 1932 and Delius’ wife, Jelka, sent them to Sir Thomas Beecham. Fenby’s arrangements gave a new life to the little works and they remain in the repertoire as orchestral, rather than choral works.

    Other works on this recording include selections from Vaughan Williams’ The Charterhouse Suite, which itself is an arrangement of the 6 Short pieces for Piano; two works from William Walton’s music for the 1944 movie Henry V; and a selection from John Ireland’s A Dowland Suite (1942).

    One notable work on the recording is the title work, Howard Goodall’s And the Bridge is Love, written in 2008. The title comes from Thornton Wilder’s novel The Bridge at San Luis Rey, and was written in honor of a young cellist who died in 2007. The work was commissioned by the Chipping Campden Festival and was given its première in 2008 with Julian Lloyd-Webber as soloist. This performance is carefully crafted and the work is beautiful and fits in well here, despite dating from some 69 to 80 years after most of the other works in this collection. Julian Lloyd-Webber has said that this performance of Howard Goodall’s work is his final recording as a cellist.

    Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber will be performing in Hong Kong on January 31st 2015.

    Maureen Buja

  • And the Bridge is Love

    David’s Review Corner February 2015

    A disc of English string music that marks Julian Lloyd Webber’s debut recording as a conductor, and takes its title from Howard Goodall’s And the Bridge is Love. There is also sadness hidden away, as with this work for solo cello and strings Lloyd Webber brings to an end his career as a cellist, an injury to his shoulder preventing further concert appearances. When one door closes, another one opens, and we can now enjoy his exceptionally fine account of works by Elgar, an uncommonly virile and fast moving Introduction and Allegro opening a disc that finds the English Chamber Orchestra in fine form. That is equally true of their performance of the Serenade for Strings, though here Lloyd Webber takes a more leisurely view, the sadness he brings to slow central movement spilling over into the finale. Sospiri unfolds in an unhurried pace, and I much enjoy the unaffected reading of the two Chansons in the familiar string arrangement by William Reed Much tenderness in the two string pieces that Walton included in his film score for Shakespeare’s Henry V, and the two short Aquarelles by Delius in Eric Fenby’s arrangement. The novelty is the very attractive The Moon by the conductor’s father William Lloyd Webber which only received its premiere in 2014, and there is another world recording premiere in Goodall’s very sad work written in memory of a teenage cellist. Outstanding sound from the legendary Watford venue. I hope this the first of many from the Lloyd Webber baton. © 2015 David’s Review Corner

    David Denton

  • Andrew Lloyd Webber

    Turkish Daily News 27th June 2007

    Classic brilliance resonates in ancient walls

    Istanbul Concert Review

    Music gently winds through the corridors of the ancient Byzantine structure Hagia Eirini, at the concert, Festival Meetings II, performed by an acclaimed cellist, cello quartet and pianist

    As four cellists raise their bows in the air and strike the cellos strings with utmost grace, Bach’s Air in D Major gently resonates in a former Eastern Orthodox Church, Hagia Eirini Museum (Aya lrini) at the Topkapi Palace on Monday night. As the music gently whines through the corridors of the ancient Byzantine structure and rises to the atrium, a surreal musical journey begins in an enchanting setting of history and culture that creates the perfect atmosphere for music lovers of all ages. Festival Meetings II, featuring an acclaimed cellist, Julian Lloyd Webber, cello quartet çellistanbul and pianist Pam Chowhan is part of the 35th International Istanbul Music Festival. The festival is the latest creation of a creative musician and an ensemble of musicians whose passion for classical sound resonates from their soul. Istanbul’s own cello quartet ‘çeliistanbul’, started the audience on a journey of choral harmonies. Inspired by the city Istanbul and its magical atmosphere, the group is formed of cellists who graduated from the same Conservatoire of music their repertoire includes classical as well as modern works. “I am on a Long, Narrow Road” was a special composition for the quartet based on Asik Veysel’s melody that proved to the audience they were witnessing brilliant performers.

    Each cord was played in unison echoing the emotion of the music on the individual faces and swaying bodies 0r the cellists. The group was one entity playing off each other’s enthusiasm and passion. Their long composition was met with equal pleasure from the audience as each note created tension in the already thick church air. The last note in the composition is held in harmony. The audience holds its breath. Time stops. The note finishes. The stunned audience breaks the silence with loud cheers and applause.

    The group also known for their works of tango and jazz finish off their set with Tango Passionata and Polonaise. The second set welcomes Julian Lloyd Webber to the stage with Pam Chowham accompanying him on the piano. He too begins with Bach’s C Major Adagio followed by Scherzetto. At first the music did not flow together.

    There seemed to be tension as each performer kept looking for signs and warmth the two instruments should create. It was not until Scherzo Pizzicato that the union warmed up and put their bows aside; Webber played the cello with his fingers. Claude Debussy’s Sonata (1915) was long and stunning. Inspired with patriotic sentiments his music flowed with watery magic to dark virtuosity. It was multi-faceted brilliance that was written for the flute, piano and cello and it worked with Chowhan accompanying Webber on the piano. The night was not over yet, as ‘çellistanbul’ joined Webber on stage to perform the last three compositions. Beginning with Astor Piazzolla’s Oblivion, the groups performance highlights not only Webber’s amazing ability to take original scores and create a compelling rhythm, hut to depict character through music that shows his way of bringing life to his playing, It would not be a Webber production without performing one of his brothers most popular songs from the popular musical Jesus Christ Superstar, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.” The audience was really alive and hoped there was more when the performance ended. The silence was extensive and finally broken with loud applause. The applause brought Webber and the ‘çellistanbul’ quartet back on stage to perform an encore of Astor Piazolla’s Oblivion. This time when the last cord was held, the audience knew once the sound reached the atrium, the performance was truly over. A standing ovation ended a magical myriad of classical ethereal sound that was performed brilliantly.

    Classic.net      2005

    Gramophone Magazine March 1987

    A. LLOYD WEBBER (arch. Cullen). Variations for cello and orchestra

    W. S. LLOYD WEBBER. Aurora-tone poem.

    * Julian Lloyd Webber (vc); London Philharmonic Orchestra /Lorin Maazel.

    Philips digital CD 420 342-1PH; 420 342-4PH; CD 420 342-2PH (45 minutes).

    To have produced a Webber/Webber/Webber record was a splendid idea, the very different skills of the three musicians of the family (so far) contrasting well, yet also integrating well: perhaps this, in very many circumstances, is the ideal family relationship.

    1. S. Lloyd Webber started it all: his Aurora is a gentle piece about the Roman Goddess of the Dawn, of Youth and of Beauty. With this background, faithfully reproduced, you could hardly miss; and in his charming piece (Chausson, perhaps Dukas, come to mind) William does indeed come nowhere near missing.
    Andrew’s Variations-on a theme of Paganini, the expected one – reflect a similar degree of skill; even so, there are few moments when Andrew’s music could be mistaken for William’s (though perhaps there are many which would have puzzled him). As the Variations are long (a side and a hall) they should be, and indeed are, very varied. Not often out-and-out pop in style (the first recording on MCA MCL18l6, 4/78-was scored for cello and six-piece rock band), yet equally not often out-and-out classical in style; instead there are cross-currents, with the scoring giving often unusual and piquant colour (David Cullen contributing excellently here) to music which does on occasion need this help (as most lengthy pieces do in places). It is easy to enjoy the music; when these variations were the ‘Dance’ half of Andrew’s Song and Dance show many thousands of theatre-goers did so, and many of today’s record buyers stand a good chance of doing the same. The solo cello contribution to the score – approaching that of a concerto soloist yet not quite that – is played splendidly by, of course, Julian (who ends by contributing a resonant bottom A, probably the lowest note on the cello ever recorded).

    Lovers of the unusual. of course, need no recommendation: this record is self-evidently for them. Collectors of versions of Paganini’s twenty-fourth Caprice (these versions are by now a large family) also need no recommendation. (As in the case of William, some of these variations would have puzzled Paganini; few would, I think, have angered him.) And, self-evidently, automatic admirers of everything Andrew does also need no recommendation. For listeners in none of these three categories: well, perhaps, caution might be advised.

    M.M.

  • Walton Passacaglia

    Fanfare June 1997

    BRITISH CELLO MUSIC, Volume I & II

    Julian Lloyd Webber’s performances of British music always carry the imprimatur of authority. and transmit a palpable sense of conviction that never fails to win new devotees to this area of the cello literature. I am especially happy, then, to welcome these splendid offerings back to the catalogs. Lloyd Webber is an artist of missionary enterprise, and his playing is underpinned by a technical assurance that vouchsafes his preeminence as the foremost living exponent of England’s cellistic oeuvre. As a result of his advocacy, works like those collected on these two ASV issues arc increasingly seen as being emblematic of a unique nationalistic subgenre. That these two CDs embrace between them no fewer than six world-premiere recordings bespeaks as much. But that the music is played with such understanding, affection, and profundity of utterance outstrips regular expectations.

    Britten’s Third Suite dates from the spring of 1971, and was premiered by Rostropovich (for whom the previous two Suites and the Cello Symphony were also written) in December 1974. The present performance, which dates from August 1979, is of special import, since it was in fact the first commercial recording of the piece, and it still holds its own in an increasingly competitive field. Julian Lloyd Webber’s account has both the pliant elasticity and the requisite expressive insights to make the most of its frisson and fantasy, but there is a deeper, darker, more elegiac core to this music. Britten’s implementation of the Kontakion, the Russian Orthodox hymn for the departed, is well documented, as is his decision to include an alternative version from English liturgy, and Julian Lloyd Webber plays the English Hymnal interpolation here. The Thema “Sacher,” an intriguing, unaccompanied cryptogram on the letters S-A-C-H-E-R, honored the conductor on the occasion of his seventieth birthday in 1976. A slight sixty-two seconds in duration, the current performance evidences Britten’s ingenuity in the genre, and the playing is magical. Alan Rawsthome’s cello sonata of 1949 (pithy, driven, sometimes truculent, but never crass), makes clever use of recurrent, cyclic themes as earlier motifs are revisited in the Finale: at the time of writing, no other recording exists, so a reading of this quality is the more welcome for its reappearance. The pianist here. and in the remaining accompanied works discussed here (in fact, there is only one other in the case of the first of these two discs, and that is a beguilingly enraptured account of John Ireland’s The Holy Boy) is the pianist and composer John McCabe, with whom Julian Lloyd Webber has enjoyed an especially fruitful collaboration.

    The remaining solo works here are by Sir Malcolm Arnold and Sir William Walton. The former’s 1987 Fantasy for solo cello is, in my view, a splendid addition to the repertoire. Cast in seven highly contrasted movements, its sophistication lurks behind an inscrutability that Hugo Cole describes as “Chinese economy of means.” It is an apt description, and Lloyd Webber’s account (still the only one in the catalog) focuses skillfully on the composer’s desire to draw out the naturalistic, rather than virtuosic, side of the instrument’s persona. The Walton Passacaglia is built along traditional lines (eight-measure theme and ten variations); it condenses Altonian severity and acerbity down to a solitary instrumental voice, and does so masterfully. This performance is mesmeric.

    The second release is devoted to fine readings from both artists of sonatas by Sir Charles Villiers Standford and John Ireland, and two characteristic miniatures by Frank Bridge. The Sonata in G Minor by John Ireland (1923) has been examined in these pages in context of the Marco Polo disc from Raphael Wallfisch and John York (Marco Polo 8.223718). Much as 1 found a lot to admire here (the program is a valuable one, also including the Edmund Rubbra sonata in G Minor, op. 60, and the superb A-Minor Sonata by E. J. Moeran). there remains, on comparison with this ASV version, a degree of blandness and discernible reluctance at times to probe much beyond the outer veneer of the notes. Hence, Julian Lloyd Webber’s playing has instantly more appeal and commu- nicative depth, and John McCabe’s management of the taxing piano part is a model of restraint? perhaps it takes a composer well versed in the ways of both instruments to make this music really work texturally? Of the Bridge pairing, Lloyd Webber relates in his insert note his happenstance discovery of the Scherzetto in a collection of manuscripts at the Royal College of Music, London. He gave the modern premiere of the piece, seventy-seven years after its composition, in April 1976; this slight but delicious encore piece is an ideal foil to the somber mood of the preceding Elegy, dating from 1905. Both performances arc admirable. The other large-scale work is the majestic and uncommonly Brahmsian Second Sonata (op. 93?1893) by Stanford. This work, as deserving of a niche in the repertoire as the similarly neglected Elegiac Variations by Sir Donald Francis Tovey (played quite decently by Rebecca Rust and David Aptcr on Marco Polo 8.223637), receives a robust and impassioned performance here. and. like several of the works contained on these ASV issues, is otherwise unavailable. To sum up. Julian Lloyd Webber’s striking and compelling performances arc of consistent excellence, and recorded sound is likewise entirely serviceable. My only gripe is that the labels with which he is associated, ASV and Philips, have yet to recognize both the musical significance and commercial viability of this area of the cello literature. If they were to relent, however, they would find no better artist for the task than Julian Lloyd Webber, whose performances may be unreservedly commended.

    Michael Jameson

  • Walton Cello Concerto

    Mail on Sunday 13th July 1997

    Walton Cello Concerto/Britten Cello Symphony Julian Lloyd Webber

    Phlhps 454442-2 ****

    Julian Lloyd Webber has joined forces with conductor Sir Neville Marriner to produce this moving new recording of two great cello works. For the Britten, Lloyd Webber makes his cello hum with questing intensity and dark-hued rumblings. He imbues the work with a warped sweetness and a rugged grandeur which brings out the work’s rather Russian feel (it was, after all, written for Rostropovich). Marriner dictates a slow, inexorable tread – the sad, plangent melodies are deliberately trampled underfoot Even the sense of calm in the last movement here seems illusory – a submission, not a resolution. In the Walton too, there is a haunting, unsettling quality to the performance. A disc to test your emotions and your nerve.

    James Inverne

  • Walton Cello Concerto

    The Guardian 11th July 1997

    Britten: Cello Symphony;

    Lloyd Webber/ASMF/Marriner (Philips 454 442-2) ****

    Julian Lloyd Webber, in his finest recording yet, neatly couples two works that, though closely parallel in the careers of their composers, could hardly be more sharply contrasted. Not only does he bring out the power of each work, but the beauty too, both in the lusciously romantic Walton concerto, and in the grittily taxing Britten piece, helped by sumptuous recorded sound. In the Britten, the extraordinary originality of the scoring is presented as never before on disc, while the Walton, in this passionate performance, is confirmed as fully equal to his pre-war concerto masterpieces for viola and violin.

    Edward Greenfield

  • Walton Cello Concerto

    The Independent On Sunday November 1987

    Britten Cello Symphony Walton Cello Concerto

    CLASSICAL

    Julian Lloyd Webber/ Academy of St Martins/ Neville Marriner.

    (Philips, CD.)

    These two British classics of the modern cello repertory were written more or less contemporaneously (six years apart) and both for Russian virtuosi (Rostropovich, Piatigorsky) but otherwise they speak for different worlds. The Britten is hard with knuckle whitening tension: brittle, angular and beaten by East Coast winds into one of his least lovable though most remarkable scores. The Walton has its share of nervous drive, but is essentially a wistful, late-Romantic soundscape of a warm Italian summer night – as experienced, no doubt, from the terrace of the composer’s home on Ischia. And Lloyd Webber has the measure of both: a specialist in (even expat) British repertory who feels the music deeply and communicates with passion. In the Britten you won’t find the bite of Rostropovich’s attack in his definitive Sixties recording; and in the Walton it may be that Lynn Harrell’s version for EMI has more muscular power. But no one plays more beautifully than Julian Lloyd Webber, or with more commitment. His instinctive sense of line and all-round musicality are admirable. And with truly opulent support from Marriner, who isn’t afraid to indulge a spot of spangled, starlit magic when the opportunity presents itself, he finds just the right tempo for the opening of the Walton (not easy) and manages the last movement’s tricky shift of gear into the reprise of the big tune with seamless elegance.

    Michael White

  • Walton Cello Concerto: The Sunday Telegraph

    Britten Cello Symphony

    Classical Records

    Michael Kennedy

    Lloyd Webber, AMF/ Marriner (Philips 454442-2).

    Britten’s work dates from 1963, Walton’s from 1956. Each was its composer’s first major orchestral work for many years, each was inspired by a great Russian virtuoso (Rostropovich and Piatigorsky). There the resemblance ends. The Cello Symphony is one of Britten’s darkest and mysteriously ambivalent scores, a long and difficult progression from angst and turbulence to what, remembering Billy Budd, one might call a ‘far-shining sail’ ending. Walton’s is a languorous, amorous piece, drenched in Italian sun but not without a vein of melancholy. And for all its apparent conservatism and ease, it is highly original in design and, likethe Britten, makes fiendish demands on the soloist.

    Julian Lloyd Webber plays both with intuitive sympathy and a heart-warming perception of their contrasted virtues. His interpretation of the first movement of the Britten is less tense and stormy than Rostropovich’s but in some respects penetrates deeper into its morosely elegiac musings. In Walton’s more cantabile themes, he gives lyrical rein to the long phrasing and is notably skilful and eloquent in the cadenza. Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields provide excellent support. A fine disc.

  • Walton Cello Concerto

    Liverpool Echo 13th January 1992

    WILLIAM LEECE: Philharmonic Hall

    REGULAR Phil-goers must reckon they know Elgar’s Enigma Variations so well that nothing in the work can surprise them any longer. But it’ s always nice to be proved wrong and a packed Philharmonic cheered Libor Pesek to the rafters after he conducted Elgar’s old reliable for the first time on Saturday night.

    I doubt if anyone In Liverpool had heard the piece played quite so expansively before. Pesek took a brazenly romantic approach from the very first notes, wringing every drop out of the music and encouraging the RLPO to give it everything they had. Above all it worked in the Nimrod variation, with the music slowed right down and the tension and emotion almost unbearable. Pesek has never been afraid to take risks: sometimes he comes unstuck, but more often living dangerously is the way to succeed as the Elgar showed.

    In fact the whole of Saturday’s all-English concert was a calculated risk, as Posek was tackling every single work on the programmed for the first time. On top of that, cellist Julian Lloyd-Webber was playing Sir William Walton’s Cello Concerto for only the second time in his career – not that it showed for one moment.

    Lloyd-Webber obviously adores the piece, so affectionate and fluent was his performance. But despite his musical eloquence, I remain unconvinced that here is a neglected masterpiece waiting to be taken up by cellists across the world.

    At the beginning of the evening came a shimmering account of Sir Michael Tippett’s Fantasia Concertante of a Theme of Corelli which will undoubtedly sounds even better after the orchestra has played it a couple of times on its Canary island tour later this month.