Delius / Ireland: Evening Songs (Naxos: 8.572902) [CD]

''It's a timely (and pleasant) addition to the catalogue on the eve of Delius' 150th anniversary and John Ireland's 50th.'' --BBC Music Magazine, Feb 2012

''Using a portmento like a singing voice, Lloyd Webber's cello playing is silky smooth and the intonation immaculate, a pleasure doubled by Jiaxin Cheng's contribution in two Ireland pieces arranged for cello duo and piano. This is not a disc of high contrasts, but one of great beauty with a recorded sound to match.'' THE STRAD RECOMMENDS --The Strad, Feb'12

''Lloyd Webber...celebrates Delius's 150th, and the 50th anniversary of the death of another of his passions, John Ireland, with Evening Songs, 21 highly recommended arrangements for cello and piano on a Naxos disc. Delius wrote 61 songs, few of them memorable, but Julian makes much of the best of them, with his attentive partner, the pianist John Lenehan. The Ireland items make more of an impact, especially his carol The Holy Boy, and Sea fever, based on John Masefield s poem.'' --Mail on Sunday, 04/02/12

Hearing the songs of both composers without the texts, and played with such attention to colour and gradation, reminds us just how masterly and diverse both composers were in their art of the solo song, and indeed how far each composer developed his own individual concet of the genre. As the title of the disc suggests, this is an ideal collection to while away the summer evenings. --Gramophone, Mar'12

Delius and Ireland both have anniversaries is 2012. The Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber is a devotee of both and has in the past recorded both the Delius Cello Concerto and Cello Sonata and also the Ireland chamber repertoire. Now he has had the bright thought of not just setting them alongside each other but of doing so via their songs. Lloyd Webber has borrowed 21 of the for his own instrument, and arranged them accordingly himself, except for three where a cello arrangement was pre-existing. The recording is unobtrusively excellent.

--IRR, Feb'12

''Lloyd Webber...celebrates Delius's 150th, and the 50th anniversary of the death of another of his passions, John Ireland, with Evening Songs,21 highly recommended arrangements for cello and piano on a Naxos disc. Delius wrote 61 songs, few of them memorable, but Julian makes much of the best of them, with his attentive partner, the pianist John Lenehan. The Ireland items make more of an impact, especially his carol The Holy Boy, and Sea fever, based on John Masefield s poem.'' --Mail on Sunday, 04/02/12

Delius and Ireland both have anniversaries is 2012. The Cellist Julian Lloyd Webber is a devotee of both and has in the past recorded both the Delius Cello Concerto and Cello Sonata and also the Ireland chamber repertoire. Now he has had the bright thought of not just setting them alongside each other but of doing so via their songs. Lloyd Webber has borrowed 21 of the for his own instrument, and arranged them accordingly himself, except for three where a cello arrangement was pre-existing. The recording is unobtrusively excellent. --IRR,Feb'12

''Lloyd Webber...celebrates Delius's 150th, and the 50th anniversary of the death of another of his passions, John Ireland, with Evening Songs,21 highly recommended arrangements for cello and piano on a Naxos disc. Delius wrote 61 songs, few of them memorable, but Julian makes much of the best of them, with his attentive partner, the pianist John Lenehan. The Ireland items make more of an impact, especially his carol The Holy Boy, and Sea fever, based on John Masefield s poem.'' --Mail on Sunday, 04/02/12

With great sensitivity and insight, Webber has revived a once-popular tradition of arranging vocal music for instruments and given voice to the cello to capture the remarkable melodic charm and poignancy of both composers songs. He is joined by his cellist wife, Jiaxin Cheng and the acclaimed piano accompanist, John Lenehan, who is an acknowleged interpreter of Ireland. This CD is an absolute joy. --Delius society Bulletin

''Lloyd Webber...celebrates Delius's 150th, and the 50th anniversary of the death of another of his passions, John Ireland, with Evening Songs,21 highly recommended arrangements for cello and piano on a Naxos disc. Delius wrote 61 songs, few of them memorable, but Julian makes much of the best of them, with his attentive partner, the pianist John Lenehan. The Ireland items make more of an impact, especially his carol The Holy Boy, and Sea fever, based on John Masefield s poem.'' --Mail on Sunday, 04/02/12