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Category: Reviews

  • Britten Cello Sonata: Independent

    The Independent 19th December 1994

    Britten Sonata in C,op 65

    There were no frills on offer for Julian Lloyd Webber on Thursday at the Wigmore Hall. No record signings or glossy promo packs. Just an evening of simple, honest music-making, like he always said it should be.

    Said it on this page, in fact, over a week ago, in an interview that raised expectations about his style of playing that could only be justified in the act. His programme, with French and Russian classics, new works and old novelties, suggested no lack of ideas. Even so, it was the artist in action who proved his point that playing the cello remains his principal devotion.

    He began with Britten’s Sonata in C; a smart choice, for in its spiderery plucked strings and side-glancing melodies he could project the spirit of his musicianship with little chance of going over the top. Elusiveness seems written into the very notes of this piece, and Lloyd Webber came nearest to direct statement in the Elegia, keening cello against acrid, bitonal chords from the pianist John Lenehan. Yet neither here nor in Debussy’s late Sonata were the players working at full pressure, despite a noble view of the Prologue and an encounter with the Serenade that caught the deft instability of its nervous pantomime.

    Instead, these works gave a preview of the full picture to come: a tonal range that stretched from the lustrous alto timbre of an antique viola to a crisp, succulent bass, and a rhythmic acumen willingly shared between the two players.

    The reward came after the interval, in a faultless reading of Rachmaninov’s testing Cello Sonata. After the bold adventure of its opening bars, the second theme, proposed by Lenehan and propelled by Lloyd Webber through a flight of echoes and asides, stood for the fine coordination of the whole. Gruff tremolos in the scherzo and a fine tune in the slow movement yielded to a finale that relaxed just enough to give the lyrical moments room to breath: it drew lively applause.

    For a striking contrast, there was also the premiere of Dream Sequence, Richard Rodney Bennett’s medley of Broadway themes about childhood. And who else but the incomparable Bennett could turn a simple exercise into such art?

    His chords had an easy showtime magic; at a push you could work them out at the piano; but never quite the chords he chose, and in such exquisite order. Lloyd Webber’s rapt pianissimo was an asset both here and in the plainsong world of another pre´miere, James MacMillan’s Kiss on Wood; bright piano chords like flashes of lightning; then silence; then a winding chant for cello, stretched out on the rack of more silence to end on a prie-dieu of comforting harmonies. MacMillan’s vision of the cross was serene yet questioning and, like the Bennett, a significant plus for the cello repertoire.

    A bouquet of salon music rounded off the evening: Cyril Scott’s Pastoral and Reel and Lullaby and Frank Bridge’s scherzo. These are composers who are polished and passionate. yet often undervalued. A bit like Lloyd Webber? No longer, on the evidence of this wholesome plum-pudding of a concert.

    Nicholas Williams

  • Britten Cello Sonata

    Die Welt July 1993

    “The high intensity of Julian Lloyd Webber’s playing bewitched the Schleswig-Holstein public…Britten’s C major Sonata was performed in a way which highlighted a wealth of detail.”

  • Britten Cello Sonata

    SALZBURGER NACHRICHTEN 18th February 1993

    Kraft aus der Synthese von Intellekt und Musikantentum

    Salzburg: Der Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber Im Mozarteum

    Gabriel Faures Elegie in c-Moll, op 24, – Ist das wirklich eine von jenen samtenen Musiksch´pfungen, die zu nichts anderem gut sind, als da´ sich ein Cellist mit Ihrer Hilfe zielstrebig Ins Herz seiner Zuh´rer hinelnschmelchelt? Julian Lloyd Webber Ist ein erzmusikantischer Cellist, und ?jarum hat er diesem St´ck nichts von seinem sentimentalen melodischen Reiz Benommen. Aber er Ist auch und vor allem ein hochintelligenter Cellist; einrr, der sich keineswegs mit einem sonoren Singsang die Bindeb´gen entlang zufrieden gibt. Er h´lt Faures Elegie eher im Mezzoforte und zeltweise in ganz Innigen Piano-T´- nen, l´´t den Schmelz also nur in kleiner Dosis zu. Und gerade deshalb bildet er mit seinem Cello kein akustisches Bollwerk zum Klavier hin, sondern lenkt das Interesse der Zuh´rer hin zum Kollegen an den Tasten. Der Pianist bekommt so die M´glichkeit, ein wichtiges St´ck Faure-Veret´ndnIs mitzuteilen: Faures harmonische Welten ´ind ´ehr genau geplante, vorimpressionistische Klangmalereien. Folgerichtig hat John Lenehan am Fl´gel der feinen Stimmung In den Akkorden nachh´ren k´nnen.

    Es war eine durch und durch anregen- de Begegnung mit Violoncello-Literatur ´us einem eher engen Zeitraum, zwischen 1880 und 1961.Sergej Rachmanlnow befrleolgte mit der g Moll Sonate, op. 19, durchaus Erwartungen’an Virtuosit´t und Schwärmerei. Benjamln Britten wollte mit seiner ?Sonata in C” (op. 65) wohl zeigen, da´ das Schwelgen In den Melodien auch nach zwei Dezennien der Vorherrschaft serieller Kompositionswelsen seine Berechtigung hat, wenn es nur formal, strukturell gut abgesichert Ist.

    Brittens Werk ist In dieser Hinsicht f´rwahr gut ´bgesichert. Und Uoyd Webber hat mit der ihm eigenen Kraft zur Synthese von Intellekt und Musikantentum ein bravour´s aufgeschl´sseltes Bild von dieser Musik nachgezeichnet. Diese Etnton-Motive am Beginn, die so subtil In ihren Bewegungs- und Lautst´rke-Werten verkn´pft warenl Wieder hatte John Lenehan gro´en Anteil am stimmigen Ganzen, denn Brittens ´So- nata” Ist nicht nur tm explizit so benannten ,Dialoge” ein eminent zwie-ge- sprachiges Werk. Der Londoner Pianist hat die Gabe, auch dichte Akkordpassagen mit beneidenswerter Klarheit und Schlankheit umzusetzen. Und er trifft mit schlafwandlerischer Sicherheit jeweils genau die dynimlsche Balance.

    Der Abend war b-imerkenswert auch und gerade wegen der ´bereinstim- mung zwischen dem Cellisten und sei- nem Begleiter.

    Reinhard KriechtMum

  • Salzburg Volkszeitung

    Im Schlagschatten familiärer Prominenz

    “Applause that was merited at the highest level, because right from the beginning there were no doubts that here was a cellist of an extraordinary class.

    The splendour of the evening’s recital lay in the fabulously beautifui sound of this instrument which Julian Lloyd Webber knew how to use throughout its range – perfect changes of register, convincing bowing-technique and, above all, precise intonation characterised the playing of the secure expert, an attitude intensified by his combination of brilliance and depth of feeling.”

  • Salzburger Nachrichten

    Kraft aus der Synthese von Intellekt und Musikantentum

    Salzburg: Der Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber Im Mozarteum

    Gabriel Faures Elegie in c-Moll, op 24, – Ist das wirklich eine von jenen samtenen Musikschöpfungen, die zu nichts anderem gut sind, als daß sich ein Cellist mit Ihrer Hilfe zielstrebig Ins Herz seiner Zuhörer hineinschmelchelt? Julian Lloyd Webber Ist ein erzmusikantischer Cellist, und warum hat er diesem Stück nichts von seinem sentimentalen melodischen Reiz Benommen. Aber er Ist auch und vor allem ein hochintelligenter Cellist; einer, der sich keineswegs mit einem sonoren Singsang die Bindebägen entlang zufrieden gibt. Er hält Faures Elegie eher im Mezzoforte und zeitweise in ganz Innigen Piano-Tönen, läßt den Schmelz also nur in kleiner Dosis zu. Und gerade deshalb bildet er mit seinem Cello kein akustisches Bollwerk zum Klavier hin, sondern lenkt das Interesse der Zuhörer hin zum Kollegen an den Tasten. Der Pianist bekommt so die Möglichkeit, ein wichtiges Stück Faure-Verständnls mitzuteilen: Faures harmonische Welten sind sehr genau geplante, vorimpressionistische Klangmalereien. Folgerichtig hat John Lenehan am Flügel der feinen Stimmung In den Akkorden nachhoeren können.

    Es war eine durch und durch anregende Begegnung mit Violoncello-Literatur aus einem eher engen Zeitraum, zwischen 1880 und 1961.Sergej Rachmaninov befriedigte mit der g Moll Sonate, op. 19, durchaus Erwartungen’an Virtuosität und Schwärmerei. Benjamin Britten wollte mit seiner “Sonata in C” (op. 65) wohl zeigen, daß das Schwelgen In den Melodien auch nach zwei Dezennien der Vorherrschaft serieller Kompositionswelsen seine Berechtigung hat, wenn es nur formal, strukturell gut abgesichert Ist.

    Brittens Werk ist In dieser Hinsicht fürwahr gut abgesichert. Und Lloyd Webber hat mit der ihm eigenen Kraft zur Synthese von Intellekt und Musikantentum ein bravourös aufgeschlüsseltes Bild von dieser Musik nachgezeichnet. Diese Emton-Motive am Beginn, die so subtil In ihren Bewegungs- und Lautstärke-Werten verknüpft waren! Wieder hatte John Lenehan großen Anteil am stimmigen Ganzen, denn Brittens “Sonata” Ist nicht nur tm explizit so benannten ,Dialoge” ein eminent zweigesprachiges Werk. Der Londoner Pianist hat die Gabe, auch dichte Akkordpassagen mit beneidenswerter Klarheit und Schlankheit umzusetzen. Und er trifft mit schlafwandlerischer Sicherheit jeweils genau die dynimlsche Balance.

    Der Abend war bemerkenswert auch und gerade wegen der Übereinstimmung zwischen dem Cellisten und seinem Begleiter.

    Reinhard Kriegelbaum

  • Bridge Scherzetto

    The Strad February 1993

    Beatrice Harrison Memorial Concert – Wigmore Hall

    Julian Lloyd Webber (cello)

    Another English memorial took place on 9 December in a packed Wigmore Hall – Julian Lloyd Webber’s tribute to Beatrice Harrison.

    Elgar’s biographer, Jerrold Northrop Moore, one of the few people still alive today who heard Beatrice play, gave an interesting address, describing Lloyd Webber as an inheritor of her style: ‘One wasn’t aware of fingers and wood – only of the music itself.’ Having heard Harrison on disc, it may be hard to view the self-effacing Webber as a descendant, but, leaving aside the glissandi and rubato of her time, he is certainly capable of revealing the music itself in an unusual way: in his performance of the Adagio from Elgar’s Concerto he exposed the structure in all its remarkable transparency and simplicity. Particularly striking was the Delius Sonata, a rhapsodic work which Webber managed to anchor, playing with unfailing beauty but not a trace of indulgence. His note on the Ireland Sonata, linking it with the novels of Arthur Machen, who wrote of ‘that strange borderland, lying somewhere between dreams and death’, threw a powerful if ominous new light over the work, and he found his most eloquent moments in the sustained, mauve-coloured phrases on D and G strings. Enormously enjoyable was Cyril Scott’s virtuosic Pastoral and Reel, for which Margaret Harrison was welcomed affectionately on stage to help John Lenehan with the accompaniment. Bridge’s Scherzetto is an encore Harrison herself would have played, and Webber attacked it with alacrity, showing that his English heritage isn’t just serious, beautiful and unsentimental.

    – HELEN WALLACE

  • The Strad Beatrice Harrison Memorial Concert

    Beatrice Harrison Memorial Concert – Wigmore Hall

    Julian Lloyd Webber (cello)

    Another English memorial took place on 9 December in a packed Wigmore Hall – Julian Lloyd Webber’s tribute to Beatrice Harrison.

    Elgar’s biographer, Jerrold Northrop Moore, one of the few people still alive today who heard Beatrice play, gave an interesting address, describing Lloyd Webber as an inheritor of her style: “One wasn’t aware of fingers and wood – only of the music itself.” Having heard Harrison on disc, it may be hard to view the self-effacing Webber as a descendant, but, leaving aside the glissandi and rubato of her time, he is certainly capable of revealing the music itself in an unusual way: in his performance of the Adagio from Elgar’s Concerto he exposed the structure in all its remarkable transparency and simplicity. Particularly striking was the Delius Sonata, a rhapsodic work which Webber managed to anchor, playing with unfailing beauty but not a trace of indulgence. His note on the Ireland Sonata, linking it with the novels of Arthur Machen, who wrote of “that strange borderland, lying somewhere between dreams and death”, threw a powerful if ominous new light over the work, and he found his most eloquent moments in the sustained, mauve-coloured phrases on D and G strings. Enormously enjoyable was Cyril Scott’s virtuosic Pastoral and Reel, for which Margaret Harrison was welcomed affectionately on stage to help John Lenehan with the accompaniment. Bridge’s Scherzetto is an encore Harrison herself would have played, and Webber attacked it with alacrity, showing that his English heritage isn’t just serious, beautiful and unsentimental.

    HELEN WALLACE

  • Bridge Elegy

    BBC Music Magazine January 1993

    British Cello Music Vol.2 CD

    STANFORD/BRIDGE/IRELAND

    Stanford:Cello Sonata No.2 Ireland: Cello Sonata in G minor Bridge: Elegy; Scherzetto Julian Lloyd Webber (cello), John McCabe (piano)

    Put simply, this is just marvellous cello playing. Julian Lloyd Webber joins forces again with the pianist John McCabe to produce a second volume of British music for cello and piano. This disc includes three world premiere recordings, two works by Frank Bridge and the wholly remarkable Second Cello Sonata in D minor by Stanford. Written in 1893, Stanford’s three-movement sonata could almost stand as the third cello sonata that Brahms never wrote. The expansiveness of the music draws passionate but beautiful playing from Lloyd Webber, lyrical at the top of the register but also particulalry resonant at the bottom. Bridge’s Elegy is wistful rather than tragic like Faure’s sombre Elegie.

    The surprise on this disc is Bridge’s Scherzetto, written in 1902. Lloyd Webber discovered it in the library of the Royal College of Music while still a student there, giving its first performance in only 1979. It is a brilliant, virtuoso work full of skittish zest which Lloyd Webber controls impressively; a perfect piece for an encore.

    Ireland’s Sonata written in 1923 is more conventional, but receives a highly committed performance from Lloyd Webber and the admirably neat-fingured John McCabe.

    – Annette Morreau

  • Bridge Scherzetto

    BBC Music Magazine January 1993

    British Cello Music Vol.2 CD

    STANFORD/BRIDGE/IRELAND

    Stanford:Cello Sonata No.2 Ireland: Cello Sonata in G minor Bridge: Elegy; Scherzetto Julian Lloyd Webber (cello), John McCabe (piano)

    Put simply, this is just marvellous cello playing. Julian Lloyd Webber joins forces again with the pianist John McCabe to produce a second volume of British music for cello and piano. This disc includes three world premiere recordings, two works by Frank Bridge and the wholly remarkable Second Cello Sonata in D minor by Stanford. Written in 1893, Stanford’s three-movement sonata could almost stand as the third cello sonata that Brahms never wrote. The expansiveness of the music draws passionate but beautiful playing from Lloyd Webber, lyrical at the top of the register but also particulalry resonant at the bottom. Bridge’s Elegy is wistful rather than tragic like Faure’s sombre Elegie.

    The surprise on this disc is Bridge’s Scherzetto, written in 1902. Lloyd Webber discovered it in the library of the Royal College of Music while still a student there, giving its first performance in only 1979. It is a brilliant, virtuoso work full of skittish zest which Lloyd Webber controls impressively; a perfect piece for an encore.

    Ireland’s Sonata written in 1923 is more conventional, but receives a highly committed performance from Lloyd Webber and the admirably neat-fingured John McCabe.

    – Annette Morreau

  • Britten Cello Sonata

    The Strad July 1992

    Britten Sonata, Julian Lloyd Webber, Manchester International Cello Festival

    “Julian Lloyd Webber’s performance of the stimulating Britten Sonata was refreshingly pure and unfussy without losing any of its comic grace.”