A. LLOYD WEBBER (arch. Cullen). Variations for cello and orchestra
W. S. LLOYD WEBBER. Aurora-tone poem.
* Julian Lloyd Webber (vc); London Philharmonic Orchestra /Lorin Maazel.
Philips digital CD 420 342-1PH; 420 342-4PH; CD 420 342-2PH (45 minutes).

To have produced a Webber/Webber/Webber record was a splendid idea, the very different skills of the three musicians of the family (so far) contrasting well, yet also integrating well: perhaps this, in very many circumstances, is the ideal family relationship.

W. S. Lloyd Webber started it all: his Aurora is a gentle piece about the Roman Goddess of the Dawn, of Youth and of Beauty. With this background, faithfully reproduced, you could hardly miss; and in his charming piece (Chausson, perhaps Dukas, come to mind) William does indeed come nowhere near missing.

Andrew's Variations-on a theme of Paganini, the expected one - reflect a similar degree of skill; even so, there are few moments when Andrew's music could be mistaken for William's (though perhaps there are many which would have puzzled him). As the Variations are long (a side and a hall) they should be, and indeed are, very varied. Not often out-and-out pop in style (the first recording on MCA MCL18l6, 4/78-was scored for cello and six-piece rock band), yet equally not often out-and-out classical in style; instead there are cross-currents, with the scoring giving often unusual and piquant colour (David Cullen contributing excellently here) to music which does on occasion need this help (as most lengthy pieces do in places). It is easy to enjoy the music; when these variations were the 'Dance' half of Andrew's Song and Dance show many thousands of theatre-goers did so, and many of today's record buyers stand a good chance of doing the same. The solo cello contribution to the score - approaching that of a concerto soloist yet not quite that - is played splendidly by, of course, Julian (who ends by contributing a resonant bottom A, probably the lowest note on the cello ever recorded).

Lovers of the unusual. of course, need no recommendation: this record is self-evidently for them. Collectors of versions of Paganini's twenty-fourth Caprice (these versions are by now a large family) also need no recommendation. (As in the case of William, some of these variations would have puzzled Paganini; few would, I think, have angered him.) And, self-evidently, automatic admirers of everything Andrew does also need no recommendation. For listeners in none of these three categories: well, perhaps, caution might be advised.
M.M.

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