Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Railway Station At Pau - Michael Ball, Kathleen Rowe Mcallen
2. A Small Theatre In Montpellier - Ann Crumb, Paul Bentley
3. A Cafe In Montpellier - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball, Paul Bentley
4. Railway Station At Pau - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
5. In A Train Compartment - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
6. The House At Pau - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
7. An Art Exhibition In Paris - Kevin Colson, Kathleen Rowe Mcallen
8. A Memory Of A Happy Moment - Kevin Colson, Kathleen Rowe Mcallen
9. In Many Rooms In The House At Pau - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
10. On The Terrace - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball, Kevin Colson
11. Outside The Bedroom - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
12. Up In The Pyrenees - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
13. The House At Pau - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
14. A Fairground In Paris - Michael Ball, Aspects of Love Cast (ensemble)
15. George's Flat In Paris - Laurel Ford, Michael Ball, Ann Crumb
16. First Orchestral Interlude - Laurel Ford, Michael Ball, Ann Crumb, Kevin Colson
17. She'd Be Far Better Off With You - Michael Ball, Ann Crumb, Kevin Colson, Laurel Ford, Paul Bentley
18. Second Orchestral Interlude - Aspects of Love Cast (ensemble)
19. Guilietta's Studios In Venice - Kevin Colson, Kathleen Rowe Mcallen, Paul Bentley, Carol Duffy, Tim Nilsson-Page, David Oakley, Sally Smith, Patrick Clancy, Ann Crumb
20. A Registry Office - Kevin Colson, Ann Crumb, Kathleen Rowe Mcallen, Paul Bentley, Aspects of Love Cast (ensemble)
21. A Military Camp In Malaya - Michael Ball

Disc 2:

1. Orchestral Intro (Act Two) - Aspects of Love Cast (ensemble)
2. A Theatre In Paris - Ann Crumb, Paul Bentley, David Greer
3. Leading Lady - Paul Bentley, Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
4. At The Stage Door - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
5. George's House At Pau - Diana Morrison, Kevin Colson
6. Other Pleasures - Diana Morrison, Kevin Colson, Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
7. A Cafe In Venice - Kathleen Rowe Mcallen
8. There Is More To Love - Kathleen Rowe Mcallen
9. The Garden At Pau - Kevin Colson, Diana Morrison, Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
10. Mermaid Song - Diana Morrison, Michael Reed, Orchestra, Michael Ball
11. The Countryside Around The House - Andrew Lloyd Webber
12. The Garden At Pau - Diana Morrison, Ann Crumb, Michael Ball
13. On The Terrace - Michael Ball, Kevin Colson, Diana Morrison
14. The First Man You Remember - Kevin Colson, Diana Morrison, Michael Ball, Ann Crumb
15. In The Vineyard At Pau - Michael Ball, Ann Crumb, Diana Morrison, David Greer, Kevin Colson, Aspects of Love Cast (ensemble)
16. Up In The Pyrenees - Diana Morrison, Michael Ball
17. George's Study At Pau - Kevin Colson, Ann Crumb
18. A Circus In Paris - Sally Smith, Kevin Colson, Ann Crumb, Diana Morrison, Michael Ball
19. Outside The Circus - Diana Morrison, Michael Ball, Kevin Colson, Ann Crumb
20. Jenny's Bedroom In Paris - Michael Ball, Diana Morrison, Kevin Colson, Ann Crumb, David Greer
21. The Vineyards At Pau - Kathleen Rowe Mcallen, Ann Crumb, Michael Ball, Paul Bentley, David Greer
22. A Hay Loft - Kathleen Rowe Mcallen, Michael Ball
23. On The Terrace - Diana Morrison, Michael Ball, Ann Crumb
24. Anything But Lonely - Ann Crumb, Michael Ball, Kathleen Rowe Mcallen

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6409 in Music
• Released on: 2005-11-07
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Box set
• Running time: 138 minutes

Customer Reviews

Just stunning
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.

DIFFERENT THAN USUAL, BUT STILL EXCELLENT


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.

Typical Lloyd Webber!
I have mentioned in previous reviews that I am not a huge Webber fan and Aspects of Love has a lot to do with this! It is repetitive(well it is Andrew Lloyd Webber!) and the story line is truly appalling.
When I first listened to this recording I really felt that I had been sucked into a soft porn movie. With the Old Italian man, his young wife and daughter and Michael Ball.
They all find themselves in each others beds sometimes at the same time! And if that isn't enough the music is weak and can get ever so boring. If you like slushy music and a slutty storyline then you will like this, but if you like a good all round show this is not for you.