Press cuttings and videos featuring Nigel
Here you can read articles, interviews from the media and watch videos, which are available online, as well as some which are not …………in those cases, I have asked permission from the original publisher to reprint and it has been granted. If you read something online or in a newspaper or magazine or watch something you think would interest fellow fans, give me a shout and I'll contact the proper authorities for permission to feature it here. My thanks to everyone !
by Ciaran Jones
IF you take the back off an ornate grandfather clock and reveal its delicate inner workings, you can marvel at its intricacy and beauty. But all of those composite parts must be operating unencumbered if the clock – however spectacular on the outside – is to achieve its overall magnificent effect.
And so it was with Nigel Kennedy and his band. Individually superb but with the blessing of being collectively phenomenal, they combined to achieve something greater than the sum of their constituent parts.
Following an introductory Bach piece, the band began to play Kennedy’s self-composed Four Elements.....................
Nigel Kennedy - Grand Opera house, York
by Maggie Poppa
The only word which comes to mind when trying to describe Nigel Kennedy is surely ‘unconventional’. And it’s perhaps this reputation of unconventionality which filled the Grand Opera House with Kennedy fans tonight. If there were any purists who arrived expecting to hear Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ played as it was played on Kennedy’s original recording of this work, (the recording which earned a place in the Guiness Book of Records as the best selling classical work of all time) then they might have been disappointed. The second half of the concert was given over to ‘The Four Seasons’ but this was the revised version, described in the programme as ‘The Kennedy Rewrite’. To say it was embellished was an understatement, at one point departing from Vivaldi altogether into an improvised rendition of the Duke Ellington standard, ‘It don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing’. Still Kennedy’s virtuosity shone through when allowed to and the final Allegro in the fourth movement – ‘L’Inverno’ – was a joy to listen to...............
Nigel
Kennedy –Grand Opera House, York
Nigel
Kennedy walks on stage at Grand Opera House York in his punk rock outfit
coupled, as ever, with a punk rock attitude (a breath of fresh air given the
frequent stuffiness and snobbery of the classical world). His self-penned Four Elements takes up the first half of
the programme beginning with a serene intro of a chorus of breathy vocals and
an exquisite violin riff from Kennedy passed around his Orchestra of Life.
Then the
proceedings become more raunchy and rocky with the audience encouraged to clap along
with Kennedy on keyboards, until the piece fades into the stillness of soft
vibes. Then Kennedy moves onto electric violin with reverb and other effects to
build up a slow rhythm, counterpointed by a moody bluesy trumpet (Tomasz
Nowak).
The fabulous string section battle it out with Kennedy’s Hendrix-esque
psychedelic distortion and the chorus’ previously background vocals (almost a
whisper) become more frenzied. They hit a funky groove topped by Kennedy’s
melodies and his virtuoso solo is mimicked by Doug Boyle’s electric guitar...............
Nigel Kennedy – Grand Opera
House, York
by Sheena Hastings
NIGEL Kennedy, with his punkish
hair, trousers decorated with safety pins and Doc Marten boots, has an approach
and style that’s about moving with the movements and using a piece’s basic
shape as a departure point. This show consists of his own composition The Four Elements and Vivaldi’s Four
Seasons to start an amazing musical journey. Accompanied by the marvellous
strings of the Orchestra of Life, two sets of drums, two electric guitars, a
jazz trumpeter, the percussionist from Massive Attack, and four singers with
voices blended into the whole like another instrument, Kennedy moves between
his Stradivarius and an electric violin, which is at times boosted into wailing
effects by a Moog synthesiser controlled by foot pedals...................
To read the rest, click HERE)
Nigel Kennedy – Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
by Sue Crawford
THIS was a rescheduled sell-out concert that consisted of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons played back to back with Kennedy's brand new composition, The Four Elements.
Both were presented by the violin virtuoso with The Nigel Kennedy Band, The Orchestra of Life and a vocal quartet.
For 25 years he has been bringing a new perspective to classical favourites and here, Kennedy and his young orchestra and Polish jazz quintet gave Vivaldi's well loved classic a new interpretation that had both verve and excitement.
The early
influence of Stephane Grappelli was still evident, as was his collaborations
with Sharon Sharron and Fats Waller, to name a few...............
Nigel Kennedy-Brighton Dome
by Colin Knight
We
went to Brighton Dome last night with Jackie to see the last concert of Nigel
Kennedy's current tour. Bea and Brian saw him in the 80s and thought him
fantastic. We agree! He has played all over the country this
month. With his orchestra he played an eclectic range of music including
jazz and rock. His new interpretation of The
Four Seasons was brilliant, as was his new piece Four Elements of which he played ‘Erf’ and Water. Many of the
musicians were Polish – he lives in Kraków.
The four singers and violinists included beautiful young ladies who he made a
great fuss over, especially Lizzie Ball.
His style was entirely informal as
expected and he wore a punk outfit for the first half. It was obvious he enjoys
a wonderful relationship with the members of the orchestra as everyone seemed
to be enjoying themselves and this came over in the music. They had obviously
played together a lot and the most anarchic sounding pieces had an underlying
sense of unity. One moment we were all tapping our feet and the next there was
silence as he started another beautiful violin solo. The changes in pace added
a lot to our enjoyment of the evening. There were standing ovations and
multiple encores. We agreed that this was one of the most enjoyable musical
evenings we have ever experienced. We are now looking at booking for Croydon in
May when he plays Brahms with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
(My thanks to everybody !)
Nigel Kennedy: My plan to put Vivaldi to an electro-beat
Violinist Nigel Kennedy tells about his new mixed-genre CD – and reveals the startling update he has in store for The Four Seasons
