Kennedy Experiences

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Kennedy Experiences

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According to Richard Marcus, we all have our "Nigel Kennedy stories." He tells us that "supposedly there is a small potted tree in Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall that is now known as 'the pot that Nigel peed in.'" Yes, well. Probably the less said about that the better ! But we do have our individual experiences of Nigel. A concert we went to ? A brief encounter with him that stays in the memory ? Whatever, let's share.Send in your story, even if it's only a few sentences. You have a picture ? Send that too.Your chance to do Nigel Kennedy !

MIKE'S EXPERIENCE IN NOTTINGHAM: JANUARY 16th, 2012

Nigel Kennedy; everyone’s heard of this idiosyncratic violinist

But it wasn’t until I saw him in concert on TV last year that I thought it might be interesting to see what he’s like live: much of the TV concert was classical, but done with a pizzazz and visual content that I don’t normally associate with classical music.

The programme tonight was billed as “Four Elements”, a series of pieces by Nigel Kennedy himself, followed by Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” after the interval.

An eclectic group of musicians, ‘The Orchestra of Life’ took the stage. There was electric guitar and bass, vibes, drums, electric drums, trumpet, 10 or so assorted strings, and 4 vocalists. Kennedy himself then appeared and plugged in an electric violin – basically a violin-shaped frame with strings – and introduced the concert.

First we got “Air”, a sweet flowing orchestral piece which had me soaring, eyes closed, above mountains like an eagle. (Yes – I’ve been watching the BBC’s Earthflight!)

“Earth” followed , a solidly grounded HEAVY piece with the male vocalist taking the lead. Then “Water” which merged into “Underture”. The tempo and rhythms vary continually with many individual contributions from guitar, trumpet, marimba and, of course, violin. There was plenty of jazz in there and more than a little out-and-out rock. At one point Kennedy took an extended solo the like of which I’ve never heard - the equivalent of a Hendrix guitar solo and certainly enough to blow Sugarcane Harris off the stage and into the next galaxy. (He rather spoilt it by coming forward for a bow when the spontaneous applause he expected didn’t materialise – I think the audience wasn’t used to solos like this!)

The use of the vocalists was fascinating – sometimes singing, sometimes whispering poetry over the music, sometimes contributing as vocal instruments either together or in parts. At no point in the first half was the music anything less than interesting and mostly it was compelling.

Doing their thing in E !
(Courtesy Mike Burnell)

After a short break the same musicians came back – Kennedy initially sporting a more traditional wood violin. However this was to be a Four Seasons with a difference, initiated by a ramped-up guitar solo (‘Do your thing in E’ commanded Kennedy!). The core tune in the first section was familiar to me, but nothing else, with the result that I think I counted 6 seasons, so clearly there was other stuff in there.

It was clearly a unique interpretation of Vivaldi, with additions, dramatic switches, solos, and at one point seemingly random shouts from the musicians.

In between seasons Kennedy took time out to play a duet with the lead cellist. These two short Bach pieces were mesmerising. Each instrument wove its own path but this meshed perfectly with the other. When I opened them my eyes was as if the two musicians and I were the only people in the hall. (The stage lighting may have helped!) I read later that these were compositions originally written for harpsichord, with violin taking the right hand and cello the left. Bach was pretty OK, wasn’t he?!

A great evening, my only little complaints being the length – I really was ready for it to finish some 20 minutes before the end. (Those Concert Hall seats are good for a max of 2 hours.) And the fact that although he introduced all of the Orchestra by name – the soloists more than once – Kennedy missed out several of the strings players. The meanie!

( This little piece first appeared in Mike Rivett's blog. To visit, CLICK HERE. Many thanks, Mike, for sharing !)

A MAGIC EXPERIENCE AT WHISKI BAR IN EDINBURGH: JANUARY 12th, 2012

What a night this has been –

the worlds best selling violinist Nigel Kennedy sold out the Usher Hall on 12th Jan 2012 as part of his UK tour and tonight he joined our resident band and played live in WHISKI Bar last night 13th Jan 2012!!

His whole entourage of friends and crew came in for a meal and then he got a fiddle out and joined in with our band, The Gorms. Truly electric was the atmosphere in WHISKI last night.

A riot of fiddles is no stranger here as Scottish foot stomping music is our speciality and every night of the week all year round there is lots of toe tapping fabulous bands on here but with Nigel Kennedy playing live with us tonight it was a magic experience for everyone in the bar. Two of his band also played live afterwards making this a Friday to remember. He was a lovely guy and stayed till the very end enjoying the atmosphere and chatting.

We have the video of Nigel kennedy playing live at WHISKI bar and watch this space and we will upload it later today…

(Later)

Sorry – our video turned upside down and we are working on sorting it out and we'll get it up as soon as we can
but here is another one we found of that night.

(My thanks to Anne of WHISKI Bar for giving me permission to post this here. When she uploads their video, I'll add it here.)

And here is the video that Anne has uploaded !

Enjoy !

SLAWEK'S EXPERIENCE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL: AUGUST 10th ,2011

J.S.Bach. Compositions.

Yehudi Menuhin, Stephane Grappelli, Nigel Kennedy ..... violin, music, life.
Simple and effective.

The time. Before midnight Saturday, 6 August 2011, the Royal Albert Hall. With himself, in the face of music, accompanied by the public, within the walls of buildings.
A few words, an announcement, and .... J. S. Bach. Partita for Solo Violin No.. 3 in E major, BWV 1006.
Superb tone! Notes and tempos resonate in the dimensions of the Royal Albert. Nigel is in his element. Gives you the rhythm.

There is in this playing both Baroque dignity, and dancing. Auditorium. This encloses the musical structure . Although respecting the tempo, Nigel Kennedy explores the music, with different clock seconds. Living comfortably with a friend of Music, you can let yourself relax with him, in the arms of Time.

Applause and acceptance from viewers and listeners. A few words from Nigel, tuning a violin and then J. S. Bach. Partita for Violin solo no. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004. Thirty-six minutes. Nigel Kennedy, violin,

Music. The huge capacity of the violinist’s physical psyche. Rhythm, maintenance of liquidity, notes ..... and sound, sound. Manual, noble cut diamonds!
Nigel Kennedy - the precious cuts. This mighty violin "playing" mighty.

Nigel Kennedy..........violin, music,life
(Courtesy bbc.co.uk)

Appear on stage Rolf Bussald - acoustic guitar, Yaron Stavi - bass, Krzysztof Dziedzic - snare drum, hand brushes and hands.

At the opening of the cycle, Das Pendel (Bach Air) . Then, Fats Waller.
“How can you face me now?” , “Honeysuckle Rose” ... a little singing. Vocals by Nigel Kennedy.

J.S. Bach........a musical cathedral. The beginning of the road. Knowledge, discipline, structure. Time and Form.
Fats Waller, swing,dancing,humor, smile.

Source music is one thing. Inexhaustible and boundless. Just draw and serve the people. Joy, happiness, smile.

Nigel Kennedy is present in the vibration of sound.
The fluidity of mercury, the dynamics
Waters of the waterfall.

Violin
Music
Nigel

Music
Nigel
Violin. Man in Music
Music Man

(You'll recognize at once Slawek Melaniuk's unique poetic style ! My thanks to him for sharing with us.)

THE MAGNIFICENT XANTONE BLACQ'S EXPERIENCE IN GERMANY: NOVEMBER,2011

Return from Germany (the Nigel Kennedy mission)

Greetings people!! Apologies for being away for so long; I have been exceptionally busy touring Germany with the legend that is Nigel Kennedy.

We were on the road for 35 (count them!) days and travelled around 8000 miles playing 25 performances!!! We are talking about 2 hours on stage playing Nigel's new album The Four Elements (featuring me as Earth), having a 20 minute break and then playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons for another 2 hours.

Let me tell you, if that doesn't get your technique together, you need to find a new job!!!!!

"the legend that is Nigel Kennedy"

(Courtesy YouTube)

The experience was nothing short of amazing especially as the other musicians on stage were killing!!!! Having the experience of seeing Nigel 2 feet away from you playing solo violin to a packed concert hall is an experience I will never forget.

Nigel's musicians, The Orchestra Of Life being our collective name, has got an amazing mix of string players, marimba (The great Orphy Robinson), Electric Guitar (Doug Boyle), Electric Drums (Damon Reece of Massive Attack fame), Acoustic Drums (Krysztof Dziedzic), Electric Bass (Adam Kowalewski) Moog synths (Piotr Wylezol) and voices (Z-Star, Lucy Potterton, Kakie Taylor- Black and yours truly). The Orchestra was led by Lizzie Ball http://www.lizzieball.com/ and a great job she did.

Imagine hearing Vivaldi with that line up! That's not mentioning Nigel's Acoustic and Electric violins with Distortion, Phaser, Wah Wah and God only knows how many other pedals.

If you live in the UK you won't have to imagine what that sounds like 'cos we will be touring the UK in Januaruy 2011. Stay tuned here and I will be posting the tour dates shortly.

Xantoné Blacq sings "Earth"

(Courtesy YouTube)

(Xantoné is a singer and musician who well deserves to be nicknamed 'The Magnificent !' This piece is from his blog at www.xanblacq.com and is reprinted here by his kind permission.)

ELSIE AND ANNE'S EXPERIENCE AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, AUGUST 6th, 2011

Mindful of last year's royal taxi screw-up in Llangollen

I have chosen a hotel in London which asserts that it's a 5-minute walk from there to the Royal Albert Hall. I deduce from that assertion that it's probably a 10-minute walk away and decide that I can probably manage that, even in my new evening sandals, bought especially for Nigel's Late Night Prom performance. In keeping with Our Motto for this trip, I hope that Nigel appreciates that !

The concert starts at 10 pm.,so we leave the hotel at 8:30 pm and notice that quite a lot of other people are strolling in the same direction as we are. When we arrive at the hall, the first thing we see is an incredibly long line of people queuing on our left and for a moment or two we assume that we will have to join this line-up. Not so, of course.............these are the real prommers, who are going to stand for the whole evening to listen to Nigel play. I haven't been in the Albert Hall since I was a teenager and it's Anne's first time, but we find ourselves at the right place to pick up our tickets and we even find the Stage Door where we confirm that our names are on the guest list for after the concert.

They're quite late opening the doors for us, but we're in our seats by 10 pm in a half-empty hall...........it takes another 25 minutes or so to get everybody in and by then the place is jam-packed. We read later than almost 6000 people are in there with us..............now we know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall ! Photography is strictly forbidden, so all I can do is tell you that being part of this tremendous crowd in.this huge, resplendent auditorium is itself more than worth the price of the tickets ! I feel my heart expanding to take it all in and by the time Nigel makes his entrance, I'm already wired !

We have all noted the three chairs and three music stands on the stage and we have seen the names of three other musicians in our programs, but when Nigel enters quietly, almost unobtrusively, he is alone...........there's no "READY TO RUMBLE" from back stage, no joyously exuberant striding on the stage, no heading straight for the microphone. He looks so alone, so vulnerable standing there.........there's a little lump in my throat, I want to rush down there and give him a hug..........this is definitely not what I'm used to !

Nigel announces briefly (yes, briefly !) that he will play the Praeludio from Partita #3 in E major. The clout round the head in Bach's unaccompanied violin and cello works comes from the way he uses multi-part contrapuntal techniques to create what are basically single lines. This Praeludio is what John Henshaw describes as "an athletic showpiece of non-stop energy, virtuosic fiddling and polyphonic imagination." We've all heard Nigel play this many times..........as an encore on his Beethoven CD made in Kiel just before he took his five-year sabbatical. But for us, this is the first time we have heard him play it live and it is superb ! It's an incredible idiosyncratic interpretation.............nobody but Nigel could play it this way, so full of colour and imagination. Sometimes, we seem to be hearing two violins playing, although our eyes tell us that we're not ! Clearly, everybody else thinks the same way.............the applause is deafening.

..........alone, vulnerable, but nobody but Nigel could play it this way........

Then comes The Big One ! This is the complete performance of the Partita in D minor, which consists of four movements based on dances............an allemande, a courante, a sarabande and a gigue, the Italian form that existed well before Bach...........to which he added a set of 64 variations over a chaconne theme as a finale. Brahms wrote this about it:

"On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind."

I for one am quite prepared to be driven out of my mind by just listening to it !

In the program notes, under the heading "Tonight's Challenges," Nigel writes:

"Remember that these movements [the first four] derive from the inspiration of French and Italian dance forms of the time."

So the allemande, as Nigel plays it, is indeed a stately court dance, full of grace and dignity and contrasting sharply with the courante which follows, which Nigel plays with a breath-taking delicacy. He plays the following sarabande with formal gravity, and then wows us with a sprightly gigue which surely breaks the speed limit but which is a testament to his technical and musical mastery. As Edward Seckerson ( see below) says: "This was dancing for the soul with only the occasional foot stamp to bring us back to reality."

And the chaconne. Nigel makes it seem easy to find the simple line that emerges from those passages which require him to do a lot of multiple-stopping, although it isn't easy at all. It requires absolute concentration and not only because mistakes here are more obvious on a violin than on any other stringed instrument. And the audience reaction......well, here's what Chris Caspell had to say:

"After the last note was sounded there was nothing but unbroken silence as two solitary figures were picked out by the spotlights - Nigel Kennedy and the bust of Sir Henry Wood. This was truly an inspiring performance."

And I'm wiping the tears from my eyes and I don't care if anybody sees me doing it ! I've known Nigel for many years, but tonight I feel as if I now know him better than I ever did before.And anyway, I've come a long way and paid for my ticket and I didn't take any pictures and I'll cry if I want to !

Once the applause has died down, we see the significance of the three chairs and music stands.......three more musicians come on stage. The program tells us that they are Rolf Bussald (guitar), Yaron Stavi (double bass) and our old friend Krzysztof Dziedzic (percussion.) Anne and I exchange little squeals of delight.........we recognize Rolf as the guitarist at the open air concert at Schloss Engers all those years ago who followed Nigel's lead and tossed the flowers he had been given into the audience. Anne was the one who caught them. Later we met Rolf and took pictures of him with Anne beside him, still holding the flowers, and all but pronounced them man and wife !

Can Bach swing ? Nigel and friends are set on showing us that he can. They play a piece called Das Pendel ( The Pendulum), which starts with the Air on a G string, from Bach's D minor Orchestral Suite, played by Nigel against a pizzicato double bass from Yaron Stavi. This is easily recognizable and it leads into a swung rendition of the first movement of the D minor Concerto for Two Violins. Which swings ! Like a pendulum do ! Yes, for some reason, Roger Miller's 1965 song, "England Swings like a Pendulum Do," comes into my mind. You probably associate Roger Miller with "King of the Road," but here tonight in the Albert Hall, England is definitely swinging like a pendulum do ! And Bach, who loved to extemporize,is alive. And here. And smiling on the entire proceedings !

.....Nigel half-sings some of the lyrics.....

And that's it. The concert is now officially over. Except that you know very well that it isn't at all,don't you ?. The first encore is a version of Fats Waller's 1934 song, "How Can You Face Me Now ?" Nigel half-sings some of the lyrics:

"Yeah ! Don't you talk back to me, shut up ! Well, all right, take your dog goin' on the street. Yeah ! get out, just get up, keep going. Yeah !"

and says that now we know why there will be no vocals in this piece !

They are not needed. The four of them really put it all together and the result is sheer delight to the ears. The second encore is "Honeysuckle Rose," after which the musicians really do make a genuine attempt to leave the stage. To no avail. We have our way and they launch into the third ( and this time final) encore. Nigel doesn't announce it but it's still Fats Waller.........."Viper's Drag," wicked improvisation over rhythm changes. We're still hungry, but Nigel tells us that they don't know any more songs and we have to let them go. Actually, he says that they "don't know no more songs," which makes Anne frown...................well, she does teach English for a living !..............but I tell her that it's just Nigel living up to his job description !

I'm tired.....it's way past midnight, as I predicted........emotionally, I feel as if I've been given an earth-moving orgasm by the most accomplished lover on earth and all I want to do is fall asleep while I'm still bathed in the after glow. But I also want to thank Nigel in person, so we make our way to the Stage Door. Backstage, it's absolute pandemonium. I get hugged and kissed by Gary Falkenthal, Nigel's sound man, I exchange kisses with Steve Cox, Nigel's tour manager and get hugged by my friend Ed Lennon before we've even reached Nigel's dressing room. Ed, who is a strong man, puts his arms round me and propels me through the throng right to where Nigel is standing. We manage a hug and some kisses, I get to thank Nigel for a fabulous evening, and he gets to tease me about coming from "fucking Nova Scotia" before somebody butts in and we're swept apart by the press of people thronging the room.

I can't stand about for very long, so I find a chair and sit in it. The first person to spot me there is Emrys Baird, a friend even though we've never met before, followed by Orphy Robinson, Lizzie Ball with her manager Lucy, Krzysztof (who's lost weight and who looks absolutely wicked !), Terri Robson ( Nigel's manager), Agnieszka...........well, I can't list everybody, but I feel like a superannuated movie star sitting there holding court ! The noise in the room means that we have to shout to be heard at all and after a while, I nod at Anne and we're lucky enough to fight our way to where Nigel is standing and kidnap him long enough to say goodbye ! On the way out, we run into Doug Boyle (more hugs and kisses) and Rolf, who remembers Anne and the flowers,which is nice !

We walk back to our hotel. On the way to the hall earlier in the evening, the pavement stayed beneath our feet, but not now.There's magic abroad in the air and I really do believe that angels are dining at the Ritz and far away in Berkeley Square, a nightingale is singing.

AUDIENCE EXPERIENCES AT PROM 31 AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, AUGUST 6th, 2011

Here are some reactions to Nigel's performance

at the Albert Hall. Edward Seckerson and Erica Jeal are music critics but the other comments are from ordinary concert-goers like you and me.

Interesting reading !

Edward Seckerson:

An encore of Morton Gould’s Boogie-Woogie Etude was Grosvenor’s nod to Nigel Kennedy who couldn’t resist swinging some Fats Waller later in the evening. But he was there to play solo Bach and I doubt that any of the 6000 or so present will easily forget his concentrated mastery of the Partita No.2 in D minor. From the timeless gravity of the “Sarabanda” to the mighty “Ciaccona” this was dancing for the soul with only the occasional foot stamp to bring us back to reality.

Erica Jeal:

"One composer – one performer" promised the Radio 3 announcer before Nigel Kennedy's late-night Bach recital, though a glance at the extra stools and instruments on the candlelit stage suggested something else was afoot.
In an article in the programme, Kennedy laid out with candour his thoughts on Bach performance today, appearing to dismiss any Russian violinist since David Oistrakh and the entire early-music movement. He saved his plaudits for such unassuming performers as the late cellist Pablo Casals, and when he began to play we could hear why.
Kennedy's approach is essentially unaffected, too; like Casals, his playing was not always beautiful, but it was always vital, and made us wish we could hear far more than just the E major Preludio and the whole D minor Partita, which was masterfully paced. Towards the end of the Giga, the music seemed to rush, but this was part of an underlying crescendo into the colossal Ciaccona. Kennedy conjured a magical sense of airy stillness in the fastest arpeggios, and when he emphasised the bass notes as the opening material prepared to make its triumphant return, the music seemed to come back to ground in every sense.
And the jazz? Kennedy's Bach Double take is not perhaps up to Stéphane Grapelli's, but it created a party atmosphere the audience seemed happy to accept. If you want a gig that does exactly what it says on the tin, you need another violinist.

Michael Cabot:

An appreciation of greatness is not 'fanboyism'. When Ayrton Senna drove a racing car, he didn't always adhere to the perfect racing line, but he was sublime. When Gower was at the crease, not every shot was to be found in the schoolboy handbook, but he was a true artist. And when Sinatra sang, he often went 'off piste' and changed the words, but he was an extraordinary talent. I could go on.

This music was written to be performed and interpreted. How anyone could have sat in the Albert Hall last night and been 'fussy' about the technicalities is beyond me. We were in the presence of a soaring, extraordinary talent.

A privilege.

.....a soaring extraordinary talent.....a privilege.....

(Courtesy bbc.co.uk)

A cellist (responding to an unimaginative review by a critic):

The critic seems to have an issue with Nigel Kennedy as a person. Who gives a damn if there was an odd out of tune note? With risk takers, there always is. I'd prefer to hear someone like Kennedy play than some boring note perfect machine. I can see how he might irritate people who are not involved in music but she should just see through that. You learn something new every time you listen to him. The D minor Bach was just brilliant. We loved the way he invited us to his Fats Waller party and we all left on a high. For me, this was the best Prom of the Season.

Lucy Grainge ( responding to the same critic):

Intonation and technical sloppiness?? I agree this critic hasn't got a clue. No Bach violin recital is absolutely note perfect and Nigel Kennedy's reading of the D minor concerto was a profound experience. This was genuine musicianship with genuine personality. The Chaconne was stunning. He didn't need musicians on stage to communicate with. It felt like he was communicating with every one of us and it made the Albert Hall seem like the Wigmore. I hope the BBC makes it available and also that Kennedy does more Bach recitals in the future.

Karen G:

I completely agree with the earlier comments. If the reviewer had in fact been in her seat at 10pm then it would have been fairly obvious that she would have been sitting in a half empty arena...not rocket science to deduce that the delay was nothing to do with Nigel! As for anything else...it was fabulous. Whatever he may lose on technicalities (and I’m no expert so really wouldn’t have noticed) he makes up for with passion and charisma and personality. I'd go and see him play Knees Up Mother Brown!

Michael Cabot:

I'll second that. He was superb and the Bach was an absolute treat. He may not be the best technician in the world, but for sheer verve, bravery and passion, he is second to none. And the concert began 25 minutes late because the Albert Hall front of house team didn't open the doors until a couple of minutes before 10.00pm and the Arena took a good twenty minutes to fill up (still selling last minute tickets?). It was a front of house issue, nothing to do with Nigel Kennedy.

George Russell:

Was this ridiculously picky writer at the same Nigel Kennedy Prom as me? She is clueless about what was going on musically in the solo Bach. She also clearly didn't stick around because Kennedy and his musicians ended his concert, Grappelli style, with Fats Waller - an absolute joy to the ears and heart.

Nigel Kennedy and friends at the Royal Albert Hall

.....an absolute joy to the ears and heart

(Courtesy rapidmusicscan.com)

And to conclude, let's go to a music critic for the last word !

Richard Morrison:

...After that, Nigel Kennedy, the eternal teenager, was the apt choice for the packed late-night Prom, and he was superb. From memory he played unaccompanied Bach (notably the Partita in D minor, including its vast Chaconne) with an unaffected, silvery, toned, natural flow. Then, with three equally deft jazz collaborators, he launched into a little swung JSB and some delicious Fats Waller.

People talk about our dumbed-down culture. But when 5,000 people pay to hear Bach played on a solo violin, there is hope for Western civilisation.

There doesn't seem to be much more to say, does there ?

(My thanks to everybody concerned for sharing with us.)

NIGEL'S OWN EXPERIENCE AT PROM 31 AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, AUGUST 6th, 2011

Nigel Kennedy preparing to play Bach

TONIGHT'S CHALLENGES:

1: It's lonely waiting in the wings on your own - at least, I imagine it is. I've never done it before ! (Normally I have my band or an orchestra to mess around with immediately prior to a gig.)

2: The violin is a high-pitched instrument. I don't want to leave my friends in the audience bemoaning the lack of bass. One of the amazing things about the solo works of Bach is their complete self-sufficiency, but the harmonic bass-lines are often neglected in modern performance.

3: The first four movements of the D-minor Partita are like a complete work in themselves, but then comes the incredible stamina-testing Ciaccona. I must remember that the speed of each movement has to sound natural, not only in its own right but also in the bigger picture of the whole work. This in particular involves the Corrente and Giga being played with energy and forward momentum, because of the grounded nature of movements like the Sarabande and indeed the Ciaccona.

Nigel Kennedy at the Proms

The opening page of the great D minor Ciaccona in the hand of Anna Magdalena Bach

4: Remember that these movements derive from the inspiration of French and Italian dance forms of the time.

5: Get to bed early ... YOU'VE GOT TO BE JOKING !

(I would like to pay tribute and give thanks to both Yehudi Menuhin and Peter Norris, without whom I think I would be ill-equipped to deal with performing this music tonight.)

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