Lloyd Webber: Britten Cello Suite No. 3 Op. 87 (1st rec.) + Bridge & Ireland - ASV ACA 1001

Jacket VG / LP NM / UK pressing

This excellent LP LP from ASV · Academy Vision and Sound Ltd (ACA 1001, English pressing, blue label, stereo) features the splendid cellist Julian Lloyd Webber in an all-English music program, made in 1979 with the superb composer/pianist John McCabe, which includes one world premiere recording and two relative rarities.

Included are the following works:

Britten: Third Suite for Cello Op. 87

* World premiere recording

Bridge: Elegy for Cello and Piano

> with pianist John McCabe

Ireland: Sonata for Cello and Piano

> with pianist John McCabe

Wrote critic M.H. in his May 1981 review for The Gramophone:

"It is good to have another version of Ireland's Sonata, a darkly brooding piece, full of poignant beauty. Both the Lyrita performance by Andre Navarra with Eric Parkin and this new one from Julian Lloyd Webber and John McCabe are fine, and it is hard to choose between them. On Lyrita the piano is to the left, the cello to the right, with good separation, and each instrument heard at full strength without covering the other. On ASV they are the other way about and with the separation a trifle less distinct but the sound just as clear. Webber and McCabe, in Ireland's first movement especially, bring more urgency to the music, make some of their points more emphatically, yet choice may depend on the couplings.

"Lyrita's programme is the more desirable for those with a particular concern with Ireland as it is completed by his memorable Clarinet Sonata and the early, untypical Sextet. On ASV we find Frank Bridge's Elegy, a work of sombre loveliness, written in 1911 but in its expression of grief seemingly outside time. It receives an acutely expressive performance. The disc also contains the first recording of Britten's Suite No. 3 for unaccompanied cello, which like its predecessors and the Cello Symphony was composed for Rostropovich, who gave the first performance in 1974. Its nine movements have much highly effective writing, and as with Kodaly's Sonata Op. 8 one does not feel that the medium is in any sense limited. Webber gives the expected virtuoso performance."

The insightful liner notes on the reverse are by Christopher Palmer and Julian Lloyd Webber. The cover photo of Lloyd Webber is uncredited. The sleeve design was executed by Phil Duffy, P.D. Graphics Ltd. This album was produced by John Boyden and engineered by Tony Faulkner.

CONDITION:

The gradations of condition I use are as follows: MINT, Near-Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.

The condition of the jacket is VERY GOOD. There is edgewear, more so at corners, as well as mild discoloration to the rear panel, but that is all. However, there are no seamsplits, owners' markings, or other defects and the album remains extremely solid, bright, glossy, and attractive – overall, a very good collector's copy.

The condition of the LP is near-MINT and playback is superb – overall, a truly fine collector's copy.