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Tag: reviews3

  • 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.

  • Walton Cello Concerto

    Liverpool Daily Post 13th January 1992

    Pesek’s show of musical loyalty

    RLPO/Pesek/Lloyd Webber

    PHILHARMONIC HALL

    Review by Rex Bawden

    LlBOR Pesek, appointed to Liverpool in 1987, declared at the time his determination to explore a comprehensive range of British music. But even his most fervent admirers may not have expected such wholehearted allegiance as Saturday’s programme provided, He has always relished a challenge, and Tippett’s Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli, followed by Walton’s Cello Concerto and Elgar’s Enigma Variations, was undeniably a tough assignment.

    Walton’s Cello Concerto has never been as popular as his two for violin and viola possibly because the strange sequence of variations in the finale never quite seems to work. Despite this, Julian Lloyd Webbber’s masterful interpretation of the solo part must have gone a long way towards convincing the doubters.

    Orchestral support was sensitively characterised, with the rapport between conductor and solo¬ist adding to a satisfying performance. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the Corelli Fantasia, for although Tippett has never actually specified the number of players required, experience suggests that a chamber-sized ensemble is preferable.

    Tackling this texturally complex babaroque-type piece with a full string complement including eight double basses, obscured essential detail, caused some ragged edges and often submerged the three orchestral soloists.

    While, the days are long past when Elgar should be regarded as the preserve of British conduc¬tors, Pesek’s readlngwas often unacceptably over-romanticised. A dangerously slow introduction set the pattern and Nimrod lacked its essential nobility. Elgar’s vignettes came off better.

    All these works will be repeated in Las Palmas and at Tenerife during the orchestra’s tour of the Canary Islands later this month.

  • Walton Cello Concerto

    Classics Today December 2004

    The coupling is a logical one: the cello concertos of Elgar and Walton, played by British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, an empathetic artist with a special affinity for English cello literature. Lloyd Webber’s recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor was made in July 1985, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yehudi Menuhin. It is a deeply-felt performance, imbued with a touching degree of modesty, placing it among this artist’s finest documents on CD. Lloyd Webber’s plangent tone and unhurried approach fully engages the nobility and the valedictory content of the work in equal degree. Particularly moving is the Adagio, notable for its restraint and for much exceptionally beautiful quiet playing. Frequently compared with the classic 1965 EMI recording by Jacqueline Du Pré with the London Symphony Orchestra under Barbirolli, Lloyd Webber’s account is no less powerfully eloquent.

    Curiously however, when this performance first appeared, it was paired with Menuhin’s recording of Elgar’s Enigma Variations, generally a splendid account, now supplanted by Lloyd Webber’s 1996 performance (with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields under Neville Marriner) of the Cello Concerto by William Walton. That’s not to say that Lloyd Webber’s Walton is any less convincing nor impressive than his Elgar, but simply that the earlier Philips Digital Classics package had seemed well worth preserving. This reading of the Walton concerto, however, has been beautifully recorded. The meticulously balanced production allows the complex inner fabric of Walton’s score to be laid clearly before the listener, and Lloyd Webber understands its underlying luxuriance, debating its opulence and expressive warmth to good effect. Compared with Lyn Harrell’s EMI version with Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Lloyd Webber/Marriner collaboration is more deeply considered and more faithful to the letter of the score, and the slightly smaller orchestral resources employed help the soloist to prove convincingly that in expressive terms, less is often more. Another worthy inclusion in the Phillips 50 series, but the original coupling of Elgar’s concerto and Variations seemed more or less complete in itself, so why change it?

    Michael Jameson

  • Walton Cello Concerto: Penguin Guide to CDs 1999

    Though Walton’s Cello concerto, written for Piatigorsky, and Britten’s tough and gritty Cello Symphony, written for Rostropovich, are strongly contrasted in mood and style, Julian Lloyd Webber in a unique coupling, passionately performed, draws fascinating parallels. Helped by sumptuous recording, his reading of the Walton firmly establishes this as a worthy counterpart to Walton’s two pre-war concerto masterpieces for Viola and violin, bringing out the beauty as well as the romantic warmth, helped by fine playing from Marriner and the Academy.

  • Walton Cello Concerto: Diapason

    Symphonie concert ante pour violoncelle et orchestre.

    WALTON: Concerto pour violoncelle

    Julian Lloyd Webber (violoncelle),

    Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner. Philips 454 442-2 (CD: 168 F). 01996. TT: 1 h 06’35”.

    TECHNIQUE: 8,5 – Grande image orchestra Ie bien construite. Bonne definition. Dynamique imporrante.

    Deux chefs-d’ceuvre qui n’ont en commun que d’avoir ete concus pour de grands violoncellistes russes: le Concerto de Walton pour Gregor Piatigorsky et la Symphonie de Britten pour Mstislav Rostropovitch. Aussi dissemblables que le jour et la nuit, ils exigent’du soliste des qualites tres differentes, et cela n’est pas l’un des moindres merites de Julian Lloyd Webber que de repondre avec une egale ferveur au romantisme chaleureux de Walton comme aux tragiques ruminations de Britten.

    Equivoque et élusive, la Symphonie de ce dernier concilie l’univers féerique du Songe avec l’atmosphère tragique du War Requiem. Son langage fragmenté et pointilliste, sa matière torturée et fuyante en font l’une des pages les plus difficiles d’accès de son auteur. Le violoncelle doit ici concilier des exigences digitales vertigineuses avec une sobriété presque désincarnée, cultivant un rimbre neutre ou une acidité presque grinçante, alternant ici et là avec un lyrisme âpre davantage enclin à la violence qu’à l’effusion. La remarquable intériorité de Julian Lloyd Webber remplit admirablement le contrat: on admirera les tournoiements vertigineux et fantomatiques du Scherzo, puis l’onirisme conféré à l’ineffable dialogue entre le violoncelle, le cor et le basson dans la Passacaille finale.

    Production d’un été indien vouée aux délices d’Ischia, née de la contemplation de la nature et du ciel méditerranéen, le Concerto de Walton offre au contraire au soliste l’occasion de déployer tout le luxe de sa riche palette sonore. Assurément il se retrouve ici en pays de connaissance: il nous avait donné naguère un mémorable Concerto de Delius, et c’est bien aux charmes d’un « jardin du Paradis» que s’abandonne lui aussi avec une grâce nonchalante et sensuelle ce capiteux poème de la Nature. Et c’est bien au rythme de la baguette d’un magicien que semblent s’égoutter, pour l’épilogue, les ruissellements sonores de la harpe, du célesta et du xylophone, éveillant le soliste pour une dernière extase, illuminée du ravissement, de la langueur et de la béatitude des rêves à demi-éveillés.

    MICHEL FLEURY

  • Walton Cello Concerto: BBC Music Magazine

    Critics Choice

    Britten Cello Symphony

    Julian Lloyd Webber

    Philips 454442-2 ****

    Nicholas Williams, music critic, the Independent

    Britten/Walton

    Britten: Cello Symphony

    Walton: Cello Concerto

    Julian Lloyd Webber (cello); Academy of St Martin in the Fields/Neville Marriner Philips 454 442-2 66:35 mins

    The coupling seems obvious, yet is rarely found in the gramophone archives: the Britten Cello Symphony and Walton Cello Concerto are complementary opposites. The link on this disc is Julian Lloyd Webber’s distinctive sound which finds resonant depth in both. Lloyd Webber discovers something new in the Walton – or so it seems, such is his artistry. In the Britten, superb orchestral playing reveals lines and colours undiscovered by previous recordings. (Reviewed October 1997)

  • Walton Cello Concerto: Hi-Fi News & Record Review

    Hi-Fi News & Record Review November 1997

    Britten Cello Symphony

    BRITTEN: Symphony for Cello & Orchestra

    Julian Lloyd webber (vlc)/ASM/Marriner

    Philips 454 442-2

    Despite alternative versions, this is solo interpretation and orchestral collaboration par excellence. Lloyd Webber, whose cello tone reminds me of the long departed Beatrice Harrison’s, has a special affinity with British composers; and Marriner always comes up trumps in concerts and at sessions where great events are the order of the day. Since Rostropovich’s epic-making world premiere of the Britten, other artists have struggled to emulate the Russian’s visionary performances that we heard back in 1963. This one clarifies two things for me: what a fine work it really is, when the balance of instrumentation is so finely judged and the music is allowed to flow naturally; and just how advanced recording techniques can enhance your musical enjoyment. There are no top-heavy emphases in tuttis, or those solo spotlights that take attention away from the score, but a crystal-clear realization of all this complex work demands.

    Lloyd Webber’s description of the Walton’s ‘Mediterranean warmth and sexuality’ became the subject of a three-way Radio 3 discussion recently. Although Harrell/Rattle [EMI] and Cohen/Litton [Decca] equate the solo cello’s sonorous beauties to Walton’s sumptuously rich orchestral textures, Lloyd Webber’s half-veiled tones balance perfectly with Marriner’s natural, warm-styled accompaniment. This is a glowing account of the work in which dynamics are scrupulously observed throughout, and with no sense of lingering during slower passages – for example, in the first of the three cello cadenzas, (ii) four before 19, Lloyd Webber alters his ‘rubato ad lib’ to an accelerando, in order to match the ‘poco meno mosso’ orchestral re-entry and the overall Allegro appassionato tempo direction.

    An essential addition to the ever-growing British Music discography.

    Newman