Vivaldi: Concertos for 2 Cellos Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber

• 1 I. Allegro 03:59
• 2 II. Andante 04:10
• 3 III. Allegro 03:13
• 4 I. Allegro 03:35
• 5 II. Largo 03:38
• 6 III. Allegro 03:11
• 7 I. Adagio - Allegro 03:39
• 8 II. Allegro 01:01
• 9 III. Allegro 02:13
• 10 I. Andante molto 03:35
• 11 II. Largo 01:59
• 12 III. Allegro molto 03:36
• 13 I. Allegro 03:01
• 14 II. Larghetto 02:09
• 15 III. Allegro 02:17
• 16 I. Allegro 03:05
• 17 II. Largo cantabile 04:44
• 18 III. Allegro cantabile 03:00
• 19 II. Milonga (arr. J. Lloyd Webber for 2 cellos and orchestra) 06:27
• Total Runtime 01:02:32

Info for Vivaldi: Concertos for 2 Cellos

The first arranger of Vivaldi’s concertos was Vivaldi himself, and Julian Lloyd Webber’s new versions in this recording reflect the composer’s pragmatic attitude and zest for experiment. Vivaldi’s Concerto in G minor RV 531 is his only original concerto for two cellos. Alongside this appear works both popular and recently discovered, the mercurial moods of the cellos representing instruments from mandolins to hunting horns. Piazzolla’s Milonga displays all of his most distinctive hallmarks. Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber’s acclaimed album A Tale of Two Cellos can be found on Naxos 8573251.

This release follows Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber’s highly successful album A Tale of Two Cellos (8573251), with its two cellos “beautifully played and blended together” (Gramophone) and considered a thing of “rare beauty” by The Strad. This recording of Vivaldi concertos will have poignant associations and special value for Julian’s many fans, as he has since been forced to withdraw from performing due to injury. Vivaldi’s ever popular music dressed anew by such an internationally outstanding artist is a guarantee of global interest and very substantial sales.

Julian Lloyd Webber, cello
Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, cello
David Wright, harpsichord, Chamber Organ
European Union Chamber Orchestra
Hans-Peter Hofmann, conductor

Recorded at St George’s, Brandon Hill, Bristol, England, in July 2013
Engineered by Mike Hatch
Produced by Raphaël Mouterde

Julian Lloyd Webber
is one of today’s leading musicians. He has given the premières of more than fifty new works for cello and has inspired new compositions from composers as diverse as Malcolm Arnold and Joaquín Rodrigo to Philip Glass and Eric Whitacre. His many recordings include his Brit Award-winning Elgar Concerto conducted by Yehudi Menuhin (chosen as the finest ever version by BBC Music Magazine), the Delius Concerto with Vernon Handley and the Philharmonia, the Dvořák Concerto with Václav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic, Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the London Symphony under Maxim Shostakovich and a coupling of Britten’s Cello Symphony and Walton’s Concerto with Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, which was described by Gramophone magazine as “beyond any rival”. As founder of the British Government’s In Harmony programme and the Chair of Sistema England, he continues to promote personal and community development in some of England’s most deprived areas. Julian Lloyd Webber plays the ‘Barjansky’ Stradivarius cello of c. 1690.

Jiaxin Lloyd Webber
graduated from Shanghai Conservatory of Music, China, in 1997. She was already giving performances with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra but left China for further studies in New Zealand where she received her Master’s Degree at the University of Auckland in 2001. While in New Zealand she was principal cello of the Auckland Chamber Orchestra and played regularly with both the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. With the Auckland Symphony Orchestra she performed cello concertos by Dvořák, Elgar and Lalo. Jiaxin Lloyd Webber was also a founding member of the Aroha String Quartet. Since moving to London in 2007 she has performed as a soloist at the Royal Festival Hall and broadcast for BBC Radio 3. Jiaxin is married to fellow cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

European Union Chamber Orchestra
The EUCO gave its first concerts in 1981 and soon gained a worldwide reputation as a musical ambassador for the European Union. From 1992 to 2004 assistance from the European Commission enabled EUCO to make intercontinental tours covering South and East Asia, North, South and Central America, North Africa and the Middle East as well as Europe. Since 2005 EUCO has devoted more time to performing across Europe. The 2012 schedule took in a live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 from Llandudno with Julian Lloyd Webber, the Bath Festival with Alison Balsom, concerts at the Ravello Festival in Italy and Luxembourg and a tour of Christmas concerti with Nicola Benedetti.

Hans-Peter Hofmann
Hans-Peter Hofmann has toured as a soloist and chamber music player in England, France Holland, Spain and Austria where he has performed in both the Vienna Musikverein and the Vienna Konzerthaus. In 1999 he founded the Ensemble Plus and in 2006 joined the Ensemble Les Dissonances in Paris. He has broadcast on Berlin Radio, Süddeutscher Rundfunk and Südwestfunk in Germany and on Swiss and Austrian Radio and has made seventeen recordings of repertoire ranging from Baroque to Jazz.

Booklet for Vivaldi: Concertos for 2 Cellos