SAINT-SAENS: Cello Concerto; Allegro appassionato. HONEGGER: Cello Concerto. FAURE: Elegy. D’INDY: “Lied.”
Julian Lloyd Webber, cello; English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier. Philips 432 084-2.

With his subdued, burnished tone leading the way, Lloyd Webber knocks out a most interesting program of French cello music, balancing moth-eaten standards with out-of- the-way detours. The high point of the disc is the urbane, syncopated, shamefully neglected Honegger concerto; also, Philips claims that the sentimental D’Indy “Lied” is a first recording. The Saint-Saens concerto here benefits from unusually lean accompanying forces.
—RS.G.

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