In their coupling of Delius and Grieg cello music, Lloyd Webber and Forsberg give a magnetic performance of the Grieg sonata. With plenty of light and shade, the pianissimos are daringly extreme, magically so in the central slow movement with its haunting quotation from Grieg’s Homage march.
June 1998
Lloyd Webber and Forsberg have a partnership that ideally complements their interpretations. For the Grieg, Lloyd Webber totally changes his approach and tone quality, the gentle lyricism of the Intermezzo perfectly captured. His view of the sonata is more introverted than normal. DAVID DENTON
May 1998
Lloyd Webber and Forsberg make an exceptionally well-matched partnership. Every dynamic, nuance and subtlety of tempo is delicately accomplished. The single-movement Sonata is particularly rewarding. Lloyd Webber caresses the music with passionate conviction from the opening melody through to a wonderful culmination. The Andante is treated with reverence while the finale inspires confident playing. JANET BANKS
April 1998
The Grieg Sonata prompts magnetic playing with more light and shade than is common. The mystery of the opening is intensified and the pianissimos are daringly extreme, especially in the central slow movement with its haunting quotation from Grieg’s Homage March. EG
13th February 1998
Lloyd Webber has refined and deepened his reading of the Delius, now tauter than before. The Grieg Sonata too prompts magnetic playing. The pianissimos are daringly extreme, magically so in the central slow movement with its haunting quotation from Grieg’s Homage March. Edward Greenfield
1st February 1998
An intelligent pairing. Both composers’ cello sonatas are played with passionate advocacy by Lloyd Webber and Forsberg. Grieg’s is more tempestuous than expected and Delius’s is structurally taut. Both are typical in their richness of material. Michael Kennedy
25th January 1998
Thoughtful pairing of Grieg and Delius, linked by a friendship which lasted until Grieg’s death in 1907. The poetic repertoire suits Lloyd Webber’s eloquent playing. His Delius is lyrical, especially in the Serenade from Hassan. In Grieg’s fiery sonata, Lloyd Webber avoids false heroics in favour of passion. Forsberg is a sinewy, sensitive accompanist. Fiona Maddocks
31st January 1998
Grieg and Delius go well together as friends for almost a quarter of a century. Lloyd Webber and Forsberg find the elusive subtlety of colouring. In the more clear-cut structure of Grieg’s Sonata the gestures are equally heartfelt with broad tonal palette. The finale’s fiery temperament is communicated unstintingly. GN
September 1991
Julian Lloyd Webber spielt hier ein sinnvoll aufeinander bezogenes Programm ein. Sein Ton besitzt nichts Sonores oder Schweres. Sein Cellospiel prägt eine weiche, aber dabei gesanglich-flexible Timbrierung. Sein interpretatorischer Ansatz kommt besonders dem wunderbaren Cello-konzert von Honegger zugute. Giselher Schubert
22nd March 1991
Julian Lloyd Webber’s bold start to Saint-Saens’s A minor Cello Concerto finds the essence of urgency in the music right away, going on to develop a mature bloom of sound. He plays the perennial Faure Elegie with an endearing freshness of grief-laden emotion, tastefully judged, unintrusive in its expression. Honegger’s Cello Concerto is a welcome and uncommon inclusion. Lloyd Webber is a persuasive, probing protagonist. Geoffrey Norris