Aspects Of Love [Box set, Original recording remastered]

When "Aspects of love" premiered in April 1989 in London, wide audiences knew Andrew Lloyd Webber mostly by his big blockbuster musicals such as "Cats", "The Phantom of the opera" or "Evita. After the "Phantom", the composer decided to try something new, much in the same way he has done with "Cats" in the early 80-is after he decided to part ways with his lyricist Tim Rice. As the basis for his next musical he chose David Garnett's short novel of the same title.

The plot involves various love triangles and is as close to a soap opera as you can get in a musical. We follow a 17 year-old Englishman Alex, who is in love with an older French actress Rose Videle. They end up in the Spanish villa that belongs to Alex's uncle George, an elderly painter and writer. George in turn has an ongoing affair with a younger Italian sculptress Giulietta. George finds Rose and Alex in the villa and after Alex is called to the army, George and Giulietta begin living together, which at first Alex finds impossible to accept. Giulietta and Rose become quite friends, there is even a hint of a lesbian relationship between them. Even so, George and Rose get married. Some time has passed and Alex is out of the army and is reunited with George, Rose and their 14 year-old daughter Jenny in their villa in France. Jenny falls in love with Alex, something that a very old George, now depended solely on Jenny's love cannot agree to. Alex is torn between Rose and Jenny and soon George dies. At his funeral Alex meets Giulietta and they are instantly drawn to one another. Alex leaves with her, although Rose pleaded him not to leave her alone.

As you can see, the plot isn't quite as simple as it might appear. For this project Lloyd Webber decided to use a much smaller, almost chamber orchestra, however, that isn't a drawback. This is his most romantic score and the orchestra fits it perfectly. The music itself is full of beautiful and intimate love melodies, especially when the orchestra takes the lead in its interludes; you can almost see the nature and the scenery of the plot. The most popular songs from this show are "Love changes everything" sung by Alex and "Anything but lonely" sung by Rose. Of course, there are other catchy tunes, my favorite being "Seeing is believing", a romantic duet between Alex and Rose; "The first man you remember", sung sweetly by George to his young daughter Jenny; "Mermaid song", a shy duet between Alex and Jenny and a big ensemble number with a notable drums sequence called "Hand me the wine and the dice". It's important to note, however, that many parts of this musical is dialogue that is sung instead of being spoken, and this is the main difference between Aspects and the big Webber shows. This means that Aspects isn't meant to be played as background music while one does the dishes or cleans the house. The best way to listen it, for the first time anyway, is with headphones and paying attention to the libretto. It probably won't grab you after the first listen; it needs a bit of an effort, but after a couple of times you'll grow to like it for sure. Don Black's lyrics remain pleasing as ever.

The casting was done very well. Michael Ball, who made his name as Marius in Les Miserables, plays Alex. As always, his voice is a gem by itself. He was a perfect choice. Ann Crumb as Rose and Kathleen Rowe McAllen as Giulietta have similar voices. Kevin Colson makes you think he IS George; his voice and pronunciation sounds exactly as an elderly English gentleman should.

I have only two complaints and they concern the CD package. The musical is almost complete, over 70 minutes on both discs and a full libretto is included in the booklet. However, the font size in it is so small that you need a magnifying glass in order to read it. I had to download it from the net and print it separately. Also, the sound quality is a big disappointment; I had to increase volume on mi Hi-fi in order to hear it properly. I wished that the publishers would be more careful about these things.

Aspects of love may not be Lloyd Webber's best known work, but a true fan of his will certainly enjoy and appreciate it.

This is my favourite ALW musical, probably because it is the show that I liked most. I bought a "restricted view" ticket and to my surprise, I was not located behind a pillar, 1000 meters from the stage, but I was sitting right in the very first row, a meter away from the stage and the orchestra pitch ("too much view" rather than "restricted view") and it was a really breath-taking experience.

If "Phantom of the Opera" was Webber's attempt to marry grand opera and musical, this is his attempt to introduce chamber music to the musical. It is an intricate interweaving of themes and variations (as in chamber music). This creates a more intimate atmosphere, rather than the overwhelming pathos that usually is a characteristic of musicals. I think you need a little more time to get used to this sort of musical, but if you take the time then it is really rewarding, with lots of gems - and I do not mean the hits "Love changes everything", but rather things such as "There is more to love", "Mermaid song", "Memories of a happy moment" (if I remember the title correctly), "Seeing is Believing".

This is my favourite Lloyd Webber musical - it's story is beautiful and the music is both brave and ground breaking. The story of 17 year old Alex who falls in love with stage star Rose and how their entwined love affair crosses throughout both their lives touching them and everyone around them - it is passionate and touching. I bought the CD boxset last year after owning it on cassette for many years and losing it in a house move and it was like coming home listening to it again.