Wigmore Hall
Lloyd Webber/Parkin

In the second programme of the John Ireland centenary festival the composer was represented last night by his cello Sonata in G major, a work which employs strong themes and integrates them with great skill.
Julian Lloyd Webber, who had been heard in the Ravel Piano Trio at the opening concert, was well equipped to carry out a full-scale interpretation and his pianist partner Eric Parkin was equally persuasive with his deft and mercurial playing.
The programme was designed to link Ireland with his teacher Stanford and pupil Britten. Stanford, who studied in Germany and was born only 19 years after Brahms, was represented by his Second cello Sonata in D minor, greatly influenced by Brahms and a highly polished, eloquent work to which both players brought a sureness and grandeur.
On his own Mr Webber played Britten's unaccompanied Third Suite in C with a great deal of brlilliance in the Fantastico and Presto, a spacious dimension in the final Passacaglio and a smoothness of execution which marks him as one of the most gifted young artists.
DAWM