Marking the triumphant return of live music to London’s West End, Andrew Lloyd Webber has brought together an 81-piece orchestra to record the album Andrew Lloyd Webber: Symphonic Suites from three of his best-loved musicals. This recording is the first live performance to take place at the newly refurbished Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The Symphonic Suites album is a recording of three newly-orchestrated suites from Evita, The Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard, specially selected from Lloyd Webber’s repertoire of award-winning musicals...

For fans of musical theatre and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals in particular, Andrew Lloyd Webber: Symphonic Suites transforms highlights of three of Webber's best loved shows (Evita, Sunset Boulevard and The Phantom of the Opera) and presents them as symphonic suites. It's amazing how different the music sounds when it's been reworked for an 81-piece orchestra. At times I was reminded of the Golden Era of Hollywood, with these pieces, Sunset Boulevard most noticeably, sounding like the soundtrack to lavish movies from a bygone era.

Talking about the release, Andrew Lloyd Webber says: "For over a year now, we have lived without the joy of live music. To bring an 81-piece orchestra into the new Theatre Royal Drury Lane for this first performance on the biggest stage in London, feels like a momentous step forward."

It was also interesting to hear the odd segment in Evita and The Phantom of the Opera that would be returned to, and strengthened, for Sunset Boulevard.

Some may be a little disappointed that there are only three musicals included here. Personally I feel that any more would have resulted in a watered down "highlights" for each show, ultimately missing out some of the more interesting, yet not as popular, pieces. I'm hoping that this is the first volume in a series from Webber that sees the transformation of some of his other works and maybe branching out to focus on other musicals.

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Darren Rea