Professor Julian Lloyd Webber is the Principal of Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Widely regarded as one of the finest musicians of his generation and described by Strad magazine as ‘the doyen of British cellists’, he has enjoyed one of the most creative and successful careers in music today. 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. He was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1994 and President of the Elgar Society in 2009.
At the age of sixteen Julian Lloyd Webber won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music and he completed his studies in Geneva with the renowned cellist, Pierre Fournier. Since then he has collaborated with an extraordinary array of musicians from Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Lorin Maazel and Sir Georg Solti to Elton John and Stephane Grappelli.
Julian Lloyd Webber has premiered more than sixty works for cello and he has inspired new compositions from composers as diverse as Joaquin Rodrigo and Malcolm Arnold to Philip Glass, James MacMillan and – most recently – Eric Whitacre. His many recordings have received worldwide acclaim: his Elgar Concerto conducted by Lord Menuhin was chosen as the finest ever version by BBC Music Magazine and his coupling of Britten’s Cello Symphony and Walton’s Concerto with the ASMF and Sir Neville Marriner was described by Gramophone as being “beyond any rival”. He has also recorded highly successful CDs of shorter pieces including A Tale of Two Cellos with Jiaxin Lloyd Webber – : “It would be difficult to find better performances of this kind of repertoire anywhere on records of today or yesterday” – Gramophone.
Julian is married to fellow cellist Jiaxin Cheng. He was the London Underground’s first official busker and he was the only classical musician chosen to perform at the Closing Ceremony of Olympics 2012. In April 2014 Julian received the Incorporated Society of Musician’s annual Distinguished Musician Award.
Interview:
“Whatever people’s opinion of David Popper, I will play his music as long as I play the cello, for no other composer wrote better for the instrument.”
—Pablo Casals
Q: You have recorded both Popper’s Elfentanz and the Gavotte No. 2. Aside from four full- fledged concertos, there is a wealth of other compositions for the cello by Popper. Which of his other works do you think have real merit?
JLW: Popper’s music is always attractive but – it has to be admitted – it holds most appeal for cellists. This is because it is so well written for the instrument but it does not quite transcend the genre. I really like his Arlequin which I knew from a recording by Beatrice Harrison. Amongst his larger works the Suite for 2 Cellos, the Cello Concerto in E and the Requiem are fine.
Q: In your RCA recording of the Gavotte, with conductor Charles Gerhardt, is the orchestral accompaniment by Popper or another hand?
JLW: This is Popper’s original – I remember that the orchestral parts were not in very good con- dition!