McCabe: Partita for solo cello. Dalby: Variations.
This is a happy grouping of four representative works by notable British composers. Lennox Berkeley the doyen makes the briefest contribution, a well-wrought piece of 1971 that makes an impression beyond the number of its notes. Fricker’s 1956 sonata was first sketched on Ischia and pays tribute to the Walton of its dedication in some spiky rhythms and music of broad lyrical span; it is taut and characterful. McCabe’s unaccompanied partita of 1956 makes an effective mosaic with a preponderance of sombre, passionate movements, closely linked thematically but of wide emotional range. Martin Dalby’s variations date from the same year (he was 24) and are one of the fruits of his Italian experience. The music is lean and imaginative, with a fantastic pierrot quality that finely exploits the gamut of the cello. Julian Lloyd Webber has all the musicality of his astonishing family, an enviable technique, and will doubtless soon develop the breadth of vision to tap the resources of his instrument to the full. John McCabe makes an ideal partner, with problems of balance solved before they occur.
McCabe: Partita for solo cello. Dalby: Variations.
Many readers will know what a brilliant and musically penetrating cellist Julian Lloyd Webber is; although young, he has won the highest plaudits. This record confirms them; music may be thankful that he has a special concern about the work of living composers.
In case you feel that these are not exciting composers for a brilliant young cellist to advocate, I should say that the Fricker is a powerful work in four movements, strongly lyrical in invention, sympathetic but not a bit ordinary in expression, the sort of music that Brahms might have composed if he had been born a century later, after Schoenberg but untouched by the vanguard of our day. It is a real duo for both performers. The Berkeley is less bold but strongly sustained also, a slow piece followed by a fast one: here Lloyd Webber’s telling articulation and sense of tone-colour are deployed exceptionally; he renders to Berkeley one hundred per Cent of what Berkeley imagined when the piece was written, and the recording gives both partners air and vibrancy in the acoustic.
McCabe’s solo Partita is vivid and full of musical sap, individual but creatively indebted to J.S. Bach, and sometimes Bartok (unimpeachable models). The “Funeral March” seems the weak point, the rest quite admirable, like the performance. Dalby’s Variations are active and well made, somewhat subdued for this lively composer until the fiery finale which releases tension, in this performance, as if a tap had suddenly been turned on. Not the most exciting music in the catalogue, but vital, and a record that gratifies good equipment. W.S.M.
A first-class package in every way. As we know from his live performances, Julian Lloyd Webber has a firm, richly coloured and full-focused tone; moreover it records well. His lyrical warmth projects tellingly over the entire range and his involvement in the music communicates consistently and tellingly. He has chosen his accompanists well too. His account of the great Dvorak concerto is full of passionate feeling, with a tender Adagio, and Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic give him thoroughly persuasive backing, playing with plenty of bite in tuttis, the Slavonic exuberance always to the fore. His performance of the Elgar concerto has the huge advantage of Lord Menuhin as his partner, a true Elgarian if ever there was one. It is a performance of real understanding and rare intensity, which never oversteps the work’s emotional boundaries and is imbued with innate nostalgia: the Adagio has a haunting Elysian stillness. The Saint-Saens is played for the splendid bravura war-horse that it is, and we are also given a rare chance to hear the original, uncut version of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations. Lloyd Webber soon proves that it is superior to the truncated version used in most other recordings; moreover his spontaneous warmth in Tchaikovsky’s long-drawn lyrical lines, which he makes sound very Russian in character, makes a perfect foil for the sparkling virtuosity elsewhere.
Among the encores the lovely Traumerei stands out for its freely improvisational feeling and Lloyd Webber’s own catchy, slight but romantic personal tribute to Jacqueline du Pre is played as an ardent, tuneful and timely postscript.
Edinburgh Youth Orchestra **** St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral
By SUSAN NICKALLS
THE last of the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra’s Spring concerts drew a capacity audience to hear a varied and ambitious programme which highlighted the considerable abilities of these young musicians.
Close to 100 players delivered a powerful and well-paced performance of Stravinsky’s The Firebird: Ballet Suite. At full-strength the EYO are a force to be reckoned with and it was only in some of the more exposed areas that the occasional weakness was to be found.
In Khachaturian’s Adagio from Spartacus, the laid-back rhythms often came adrift although the string sound was solid throughout. Prokofiev’s musical tale for children, Peter and the Wolf, is popular with audiences of all ages, and the EYO, with narrator Julian Lloyd Webber, gave an animated and often humorous performance. The soloists, who all played superbly, wore hats to indicate their particular character, with conductor En Sao entering into the spirit of things by wearing a wolf hat.
Lloyd Webber then took up his cello to play David Horne’s rather lightweight arrangement of Peter Maxwell Davies’s piano interlude Farewell to Stromness for cello and string orchestra. The lilting melody suited the mellifluous tones of Lloyd Webber’s cello, which were spun like gold in the bright acoustics, but this was often undermined by an accompaniment which tended to flatten rather than lift the tune.
Evening Songs – Delius and Ireland songs arranged for cello and piano by Julian Lloyd Webber
(Naxos Classical 8.572902)
A nice idea; songs by John Ireland and Frederick Delius arranged for cello and played by JLW. 2012 brings fifty years since Ireland died and one hundred and fifty since Delius was born. The transcriptions work well and are played with feeling, tenderness, good tone and love. Ireland’s Sea Fever and The Holy Boy are here; indelible melodies. There’s a good range included. This release is not just for cellists; it’s good to have a different light shone on these ‘settings’, which still sing. Jiaxin Cheng (Mrs JLW) performs on two tracks and John Lenehan is a sensitive pianist. The sound is nicely tangible while allowing space around the instruments.
“…his new Naxos album ‘Evening Songs’ is an endearing collection of ‘songs without words’ by two composers he has long championed: John Ireland and Frederick Delius…Julian has a well-developed nose for enduring melody and ‘Evening Songs’ chronicles an abundance of it.”
EVENING SONGS – DELIUS AND IRELAND **** (Naxos Classical)
This selection of some of Delius’ most beautiful songs arranged for cello and piano demonstrates the composer’s gift for melody.
His Serenade From Hassan is haunting. The cellists, who are husband and wife, explore the thoughtful elegance of John Ireland’s songs, in particular Her Song.
Julian Lloyd Webber, Jiaxin Cheng (cello), John Lenehan (piano)
NAXOS 8.572902
Two notable anniversaries celebrated in a delectable collection of song arrangements to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Delius and the 50th of the death of John Ireland, Julian Lloyd Webber has specially created cello arrangements of a number of their songs. From the rather sad beauty of Delius’s
Through the Long Years to the dark mood of Ireland’s The Three Ravens, they all lend themselves ideally to the instrument.
Familiar among the 21 tracks will be Ireland’s Sea Fever and Delius’s Love’s Philosophy, together with two pieces known in other formats – Delius’s Serenade from the opera Hassan and Ireland’s The Holy Boy. Most of the other songs of are seldom heard today, and of the three receiving their first Delius’s reflective Birds in the High Hall is particularly noteworthy.
Lloyd Webber has championed Delius’s Cello Concerto, and John Lenehan has revealed his affection for Ireland in recordings of his complete piano music. Add the two players together and you have ideal collaborators. Using a portamento like a singing voice, Lloyd Webber’s cello playing silky smooth and the intonation immaculate, a pleasure doubled by Jiaxin Cheng’s contribution in two Ireland pieces arranged for cello duo and piano. This is not a disc of high contrasts, but one of great beauty with a recorded sound to match.
Julian Lloyd Webber, Jiaxin Cheng vsc John Lenehan pf
Nexos 8572902 (63’ • DDD)
If one desires music soothing to the ear, brimming with expressive sentimentality, look no further than Evening Songs. Naxos’s soigné release of selected songs derived from Frederick Delius and John Ireland is worthy of repeat sojourns, the perfect antidote for tranquility.
Frederick Delius’ name most often connects with his larger, orchestral works such as the Florida Suite, Brigg Fair or even the opera, A Village Romeo and Juliet, but in his early life he began writing songs of an organic nature. There is a satisfying collection of his works that are interspersed with those of John Ireland’s art songs. Brought up in a literary family, Ireland was particularly drawn to poetry, thus providing him with a vast choice of subjects. A classic during World War I, Ireland’s Sea Fever is only one of several fitting pieces to land on this CD.
Renowned cellist Julian Lloyd Webber (younger brother to composer Andrew Lloyd Webber) deftly reinterprets what must have been going on in the minds of Delius and Ireland. Set against John Lenehan’s evenly tempered harmonics, Lloyd Webber draws his strings with sincere and transparent passion, making maximum use of each note to evince the proper amount of sincere reflection. Julian Lloyd Webber arranged most all of the album’s 21 pieces, and they performed with wonderful translation excepting Evening Song and In Summer Woods both of which are played by wife, Jiaxin Cheng. In particular, Webber delivers a beautifully arranged “Serenade” from the incidental music to Hassan, but each listener will end up having their own stash of favorites.
Quietude dominates Evening Songs, and this Naxos recording will encourage listeners to explore other musical marvels emanating from both British-born composers.
Julian Lloyd Webber, Jiaxin Cheng vsc John Lenehan pf
Nexos 8572902 (63’ • DDD)
We all enjoy classical music . . . we just don’t know it
People like classical music, it’s just that they’re not really aware of it. Now, who said that?
It was Britain’s pre-eminent cellist, Julian Lloyd Webber, who backed up his argument by pointing to the numerous TV themes and movie scores — never mind advertising jingles — that have made standards out of not always obvious extracts from the classical repertoire.
Think of the signature tune of the BBC series The Onedin Line (the Adagio from Khachaturian’s second Spartacus and Phrygia suite). Or the film Death in Venice (the Adagietto from Mahler’s ‘Fifth Symphony’). Or the famous TV ad (‘Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet’) that underscored its message by laying pictures over Bach’s ‘Air on the G String’.
Julian Lloyd Webber’s latest release could be taken as a statement of that belief, for there is nothing not to like in his selection of music by British composers Frederick Delius and John Ireland (Evening Songs — Naxos: 8.572902).
We’re likely to hear a lot of Delius over the coming months — 2012 is the 150th anniversary of his birth. It’s also the 50th anniversary of Ireland’s death, but he tends to get less exposure, which is a shame. In his day, his music was immensely popular, even putting the likes of Holst, Vaughan Williams and Bax in the shade.
Lloyd Webber’s collection does ample justice to his two featured composers, taking us somewhere beyond the beaten track.
In the case of Delius, the collection draws on the songs that he wrote which tend to be forgotten in the concentration on his much more famous orchestral output (‘On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring’, ‘Summer Night on the River’). In transcribing 10 of them into songs without words for cello and piano (his collaborator is John Lenehan), Lloyd Webber shines the spotlight specifically on the rich melodies enhanced by evocative harmonies.
‘Birds in the High Hall Garden’, originally a Delius setting of a Tennyson poem, is a captivating case in point, the sound of the birds circling at twilight a counterpoint to the boy with his girl picking wildflowers in a wood.
The CD’s title is inspired by a John Ireland miniature called ‘Evening Song’ which could easily have been the inspiration for the term “delightful”.
Lloyd Webber has turned this into a beautifully lilting cello duet, which he plays along with his wife, Jiaxin Cheng, and which melds, together with the caresses of Lenehan’s piano, into the perfect lullaby.
Ireland’s most famous song is also here, his setting of John Masefield’s poignant poem ‘Sea Fever’ (“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky”). Evening Songs is music for reflection and relaxation, an affirmation that classical music is, above all, to be liked.
