Serenade for Strings (1996)

William Lloyd Webber’s Serenade for Strings has a more complex genesis than its nonchalant title implies. ‘Barcarolle’, with its gently rocking rhythm, began life as a song entitled ‘Moon Silver’, telling of an enchanted boat with a cargo of ‘pearl and silver beams, to fashion the little children’s dreams’. ‘Romance’, afavouritework of the composer, was first published as ‘Justine’ in the collection of Five Portraits for Home Organs’ and composed for his close friend JustineBax. Its lyrical opening statement isrepeated with small but telling shifts in melody, harmony and scoring, enabling the music to cover a deceptively wide emotional range (a Lloyd Webber trademark). The far fromsombre‘Elegy’ originated as one of a number of ‘Country Impressions’ for wind instruments and piano. Written for the composer’s son Andrew, who was then studying the horn, it was first published as ‘Summer Pastures’ with the roguish subtitle‘AFriesian Elegy’.