There was no soccer ball at the Alte Oper in
After the intermission, Kennedy made his Pied Fiddler entrance from the rear of the hall, having changed from black to charcoal. Backlit by spotlights when he took the stage, resin smoked from his bow. He was already on fire. He introduced the opening song "dedicated to my friend Donovan." Next was "Father and Son," a favourite of mine from last summer's quintet tour. The use of harp in the orchestra added to the Celtic feel, but I missed Kennedy's interaction with Adam Kowalewski's bowed bass which set the mood last year. Guest artist Xantoné Blacq sat in as second-percussion, playing congas and a Brazilian shaker made from a shaved-down plastic bottle. The theme to "Nice Bottle of

The quintet……….cookin’ as in a jazz club
(Courtesy emiclassics.co.uk)
"We'll just have a little break from the concerto..." Kennedy said. By now it was an in-joke. In the first place, the "concerto" was orchestral arrangements of tunes on his new CD. In the second place, the tune he announced, "Boo boooz blooooze" appears on the CD. As Piotr Wylezol switched from piano to organ, Kennedy heard the warbling hum of the amp and remarked, "Ah, the
The only piece this evening which felt like a movement was "Hills of Saturn." Kennedy says he envisions his concerto to be centred on nature. He may some day have movements to communicate that message. If so, I hope he doesn't limit his range to earthly nature, because "Hills of Saturn" deserves to be part of something bigger. He said, "Everyone talks about fucking rings around Saturn. I think if you're walking on Saturn, it's going to be a different story, man. You're not going to give a shit about the rings on Saturn, because there's hills to walk up." The opening theme was a lament made all the more poignant by strings of the orchestra. They picked up the walking beat permeating the piece, Kowalewski plucking high notes and Kennedy plucking low notes, Pawel Dobrowolski's rim shots accenting the rhythm. Grzegorski's bass clarinet sounded just eerie enough to be from another planet. Kennedy's Violectra echoed into outer space like lonely waves sent in hopes of an audience maybe light-years hence.
Without a pause, Dobrowolski's raging drums led into "Invaders." In last year's concerts Kennedy dedicated the song to a certain family in "a white house in
The applause went on long enough for those who always hop up first to leave to do whatever those people are in such a hurry to do -- be first to the coat-check, beat the traffic out of town, get home to the babysitter -- but whatever it was they missed the encore which only the true believers believed would come. When the applause had died down, someone way in back rallied the crowd with a "Woo woo woo!" chant and the cheering surged, rewarded at last by the man all alone with his fiddle. "Fuckin' nice evening, people!" he said. He finished with a set of jigs and reels. The crowd was whipped into a frenzy. They whooped and cheered and clapped and stamped and probably did some minor structural damage to the hall for about eight minutes. They achieved a rhythm, thundering in unison, swelling and fading and swelling again, theme and variations for massed voices and percussive hands and feet, until an annnouncement which must have been the German equivalent of "Elvis has left the building" ended with "Danke schön!" and we all complied.
Here in Nova Scotia we have something called a Ceilidh, a Gaelic term which roughly translates as a kitchen party where people bring instruments and bottles and get up on their feet and play and sing and dance and don't worry about whether it's a concerto or not. That's what happened at the Alte Oper. I imagine more than one party spilled out onto the street and into hotel rooms and kitchens. The party will continue at the CD launch and will revive every time someone puts on the album, but echoes of June 4 are already reaching out like waves into space.

Julian Kershaw, conductor; Kuba Haufa, PCO concertmaster; Xantoné Blacq, percussion, vocal
(Courtesy lmo.co.uk; sinfoniavarsovia.pl; knowtheledge.net)
ROGER: NIGEL'S NEW RECORDING OF THE BEETHOVEN
If I had to take one of his works to a desert island, it would be his Violin
Concerto. This is not his most popular work by a long way, but to me it’s as
perfect a piece of music as exists. It’s not as confrontational or perhaps
aggressive as many of his larger pieces, and perhaps that’s the reason why I
have continued to admire and love it for the last 40 odd years.
I first heard it whilst I was at University, and bought a recording in around
1968 which has remained my favourite since that time. Arthur Grumiaux, an
underrated Belgian violinist took a non-theatrical and slightly understated
view of the work, which to my mind worked perfectly. He played the amazing
Kreisler cadenza, and the point of re-entry into the second movement is quite,
quite beautiful. I have listened to it hundreds of times, and I never tire of
it.
Very recently, another violinist, one Nigel Kennedy, has issued a new recording
with the Polish Chamber Orchestra (a first for me, at least). Nigel Kennedy is
a very unusual character. He looks (and speaks) as if he is a hooligan of the
first order, and he is, of all things, an Aston Villa supporter, which in
itself makes you wonder if all the screws have been done up tight enough.
Frighteningly, to me at least who sees him as a slip of a lad, he has recently
passed his 50th Birthday, and lives for part of each year in

..........by the Lord Harry, he can play the violin !..........
(Courtesy klassik-in-berlin.de)
The Album: 1. Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 - I. Allegro non troppo (Cadenza: Fritz Kreisler) 2. Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 - II. Larghetto 3. Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 - III. Rondo: Allegro (Cadenza: Nigel Kennedy) 4. Mozart: Violin Concerto #4 in D Major, K218 -
5. Mozart: Violin Concerto #4 in D Major, K218 - II. Andante cantabile (Cadenza: Nigel Kennedy) 6. Mozart: Violin Concerto #4 in D Major, K218 - III. Rondo: Andante grazioso - Allegro non troppo (Cadenza: Nigel Kennedy) 7. Horace Silver: Creepin' In (arr. by Nigel Kennedy)
The Critics:
Mrs. J. Matthews and Mr. S.D.Coy are not professional music critics, simply people like you and me who buy Nigel’s CDs and enjoy them. But let’s start with what they have to say about this album.
Mrs.Matthews: Still the greatest violinist. I have been a fan of Nigel Kennedy since he became famous with his Four Seasons recording about 20 years ago and I was amazed to hear the same sense of freshness and energy in this new recording of Beethoven and Mozart.
Mr. Coy: A breath of fresh air. Er…..that cadenza. I love it. It’s awesome. It’s fresh, it’s different, it has absolutely nothing to do with Mozart, but I love it. It’s otherworldly. You’re listening to Mozart, then you’re in a different universe, then you find yourself listening to Mozart again. It makes me think that Nigel Kennedy should write his own Violin Concerto and perform it himself. (Ed: !!!!)I’m not sure what the purists or cognoscenti will think of it, but there are plenty of other ‘straight’ performances of these pieces. This is a breath of fresh air, I think.
Most of the critics wanted to know why Nigel had decided to record the Beethoven again. So let’s hear it from him.
Nigel: I now have a totally different interpretation of the concerto……….the way I hear it now is very rhythmic. It’s got to have some rhythmic vitality as well as the beautiful lines …………rhythm has become an important factor in the way that I see music, maybe not only because of my jazz playing but because I think one’s heartbeat is where rhythm begins. All of life is about rhythm………….So, yeah, the rhythmic aspect is, like, a lot more to the fore. Less rhapsodic. The four beats in the first movement is actually one of the important unifying concepts of the whole thing. You gotta have them four and whenever it comes back it should be a similar tempo. That keeps the whole movement as one, rather than it spreading into an endless rhapsodic thing……………It’s very different working with a great conductor doing it, when the interpretation is half and half. Obviously, someone like Klaus Tennstedt (who conducted his first recording of the work back in 1992 ) took the interpretation in a slightly different direction than I would have by myself. But the interpretation you hear with all these masterworks is never finished. You’re never going to know everything about everything you play. A good deal of critical attention has been paid to the performance of the Beethoven.
Geoff Brown: On [this] CD, jaws can drop ………….over this splendid account of a great………concerto: Beethoven’s. On violin tone alone Kennedy’s account with his Polish Chamber Orchestra is exceptional. Vibrato is cut right back; throughout he aims for a clean line, not some rhapsodic meander. The epic first movement unfolds with an unusually firm sense of purpose; every detail of attack, stress and phrasing is freshly considered by soloist and orchestra (directed by Kennedy when his hands are free.) In the introduction note the crisp articulation of the orchestra’s four repeated notes.; Kennedy makes those notes the work’s motto.
The peak is climbed in the slow movement. The tempo’s expansive spread may blur the structure slightly but when Nigel’s trilling like an angel and offering sensational pianissimos I stand in awe. Be careful when listening to this: you may forget to breathe.
For the finale Kennedy starts by veiling his tone, then up he leaps, all silvery sparkle. Beautiful playing throughout, but no preening and mincing: this is a performance to revisit time and again………….a wonderful journey with Beethoven and a Kennedy focused, without frills, at the top of his form.
Richard Wigmore: The first movement, here definitely more allegro than non troppo, opens as if it means business, with sinewy playing from the excellent Polish Chamber Orchestra. Fortissimo tuttis are fiery and combative rather than majestic. Kennedy’s conception of the solo part, though, has changed less than you might expect. There is more rhythmic energy, more playfulness when the violin skitters above the orchestra’s themes, but Kennedy follows romantic tradition in slowing drastically for passages of heightened lyricism. While his colouring and phrasing are undeniably beautiful, the transitions from solo reverie to orchestral action (as at the end of the development or in the coda) need to be handled more subtly.
In the central larghetto Kennedy is as slow and soulful as before, weighing in at nearly 13 minutes where most performances take under 10. The effect will be languorous or ravishing, according to taste. The finale has spontaneity and a sense of fun, with a close witty collusion between Kennedy and his woodwind accomplices.
The Mozart concerto gets less attention, possibly because nobody wants to go out on a limb on this one !
Anonymous (who is braver than most, albeit remaining nameless !): Kennedy has incorporated jazz and other non-classical styles in radical cadenzas that keep the composer’s material in mind yet give the work a contemporary edge. Recorded with his electric violin and Michal Baranski on double bass, he expresses what the concerto means to him personally and hopes they will open listeners’ minds and hearts to the piece. He has also introduced a harpsichord , which adds warmth and gives the concerto even more life. ‘What really drives all of my interpretations……..is how and that it belongs in today’s time,’ he says. ‘I’ve been doing jazz sets…………and playing the last movement of Bartok’s solo sonata there. That music can belong in today’s time if you present it in the right way and play it in the right way. The same with Mozart for me – it can belong today. Otherwise, why not bury these guys and have done with it ?’
Stephen Pritchard: There is plenty to enjoy…….in Kennedy’s inventive performance of Mozart’s Fourth Concerto.
And so we come to the cadenzas ! Hold on to your hats !
Stephen Pritchard: [In the Beethoven] Kennedy performs his modified version of virtuoso Fritz Kreisler’s cadenza in the first movement and plays his own for the other two movements. Even wilder cadenzas appear in his interpretation of Mozart’s concerto No. 4, which accompanies the Beethoven. They are typical of his quest to refresh and reinterpret the repertoire. Traditionally a cadenza is a pause in the music which gives the soloist an opportunity to explore the composer’s material in an open display of virtuosity. It is very much like a jazz musician taking a theme and running with it. Kennedy has taken this a step further, switching to electric violin, accompanied by jazz double bass and harpsichord. He wants audiences to be open to new ideas, to listen with open ears, to find a new way into the music………..[these] cadenzas breathe new life into the Mozart concerto, but purists will hate them.
Geoff Brown (a purist ?): The key problem lies in his choice of cadenzas – his mischievous own. In live concert with charisma flying, Mozart might well survive dreamy world-music insertions played on an electric violin. But do we want them hammered into permanence on a CD ? For me, the first two palled even the first time round: gaping holes had been punched into the concerto.
Stephen Pettit: He is courting critical outrage by playing a jazzy cadenza of his own devising in the Mozart concerto on an electric violin. Frankly, I enjoy it so much that I almost regret it when he gets back, rather abruptly, to the printed score. And if his approach makes us listen, makes an old work seem new, possible disapproval is a small price to pay.
And there we have it. Last word on this CD to James, writing for us on this website: James: The music is good. Go get it. (The banner is courtesy kennedybeethoven.com and the other images are courtesy Chris Steele Perkins)
Track Listings
Anonymous: hmv.com: classical
Geoff Brown: The Times
S.D.Coy: amazon.co.uk
J. Matthews: amazon.co.uk
Stephen Pettit: The Sunday Times
Stephen Pritchard: The Guardian
Richard Wigmore: The Telegraph


