‘…with Clifford Benson as his pianist, Mr Lloyd Webber played Beethoven’s A Major sonata with fluent ease, strong and even tone, and remarkable certainty in those high passages where more experienced players make the listener wince.’
Ronald Crighton
WIGMORE HALL
Sharing this ISM concert was the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber with his partner at the piano, Clifford Benson. The slow introduction to Beethoven’s Sonata in G minor had a spontaneous quality which was owed to care taken for exact dynamics. Both players command big tones and have excellent rhythm. An intensely poetic performance of the Delius Sonata showed the completeness of their art. D. A. W. M.
15th December 1971
‘Exceptional Talent!’ – Wigmore Hall Recital December 7th
An exceptional talent, the 20-year-old cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, made his first Wigmore Hall sonata recital last night a very distinguished affair.
An equally gifted and now well-established musician, Clifford Benson, was his partner at the piano. It was evident that their close partnership had been achieved in many collaborations, which may explain the risk they took in opening with the Vivaldi Sonata No. 5.
The rich adagio and the atheletic fugue of Beethoven’s Sonata in D major were marvellously integrated and balanced.
An expansive account of the Delius Sonata brought out the opulence of the instrument. DAWM