Julian Lloyd Webber: ‘Music is for everyone, and everyone should have access to it’

Julian Lloyd Webber is one of the world’s finest concert cellists, and since the 1980s has also led the vanguard of composers and performers that have opened up classical music to wider audiences. In the last few years he has collaborated creatively with his wife Jiaxin Cheng, also a concert cellist, and the result is their latest album and tour, A Tale of Two Cellos. Julian spoke to The Moment magazine online about the thrill of playing, music in the community – and Bill Haley records!

Tell us about your latest album and tour – what can established fans and newcomers to your work expect?
Well, two cellos are better than one! It started a few years ago when Jiaxin and I worked on a few little pieces for a previous album called Evening Songs. So we thought we’d investigate lots of other composers. We approached it really, like a vocal duet: we went through lots of vocal duets by well-known composers and less-well known composers, we must have gone through thousands to come up with what we’ve done. The tour also includes some things we’ve found since, some Vivaldi that we’ve arranged – it’s a very varied programme.

How has the close creative collaboration with Jiaxin enabled you to evolve your music?
I would never have thought of doing anything like it [A Tale of Two Cellos] if we hadn’t been together. Having started on it, I find how well these vocal pieces work on the cello because it really is the most vocal of instruments, more so than any other, I think.

‘I do like to play music which reaches out and communicates – for me, that’s what music is all about…’

You’ve collaborated with many different composers and musicians from all kinds of different genres, not just pop artists such as Elton John but also modern classical composers like Philip Glass. Has this been driven by a desire to reach out to as wide an audience as possible – or have you simply done stuff you like?
A bit of both really, I do like to play music which reaches out and communicates – for me, that’s what music is all about. So, composers like Philip Glass or Joaquín Rodrigo, they seem to reach a very enthusiastic audience and as a performer, that’s very appealing. I’ve done my fair share of music that is not so ‘appealing’, especially in my early days just starting off, and it can be a frustrating experience because even though it might be something you believe in, it’s very hard to communicate it to an audience.

‘I never knew a time when there wasn’t a lot of music playing!’

Your parents were both musicians (composer William Lloyd Webber and Jean Johnstone, a piano teacher). What was it like growing up in a house where music was so central, and how did it shape your career?
There was music all the time at home. If it wasn’t being made by my parents then by pupils of theirs, playing. I never knew a time when there wasn’t a lot of music playing! We had a lot…