There was no soccer ball at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, June 4, yet Nigel Kennedy delivered a well-placed drop-kick, booting out of the hall anyone's expectations of what his jazz concerto might sound like.  Rumours of the work-in-progress could have attracted the sell-out crowd or maybe they came for the first half, the Beethoven violin concerto.  In either case, the second half must have been a shock.  For those anticipating a meld of jazz and symphonic music à la Ravel or Stravinsky, the presence of the Polish Chamber Orchestra onstage did nothing to soften the attack of Kennedy's Violectra, and his quintet was cookin' just as in a jazz club.  For those hoping for a 21st century Gershwin, there was nothing of concerto form in the roughly 75 minutes of music (even Gershwin had to research the form when commissioned to write his Concerto in F).  For those expecting something like collaboration between Eddie Sauter and Stan Getz ("Focus") or Gil Evans and Miles Davis ("Sketches of Spain") -- and I was one -- we weren't fooled for long.  Although Kennedy repeatedly referred to the performance as a concerto ("This next movement of the concerto is called..."), what we got were seven original songs from his upcoming double-CD, A Very Nice Album.  The official launch of the CD is June 16 in London, but I've got news: the launch already happened in Frankfurt.  And it was a party!

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 Beaujolais, innit?" on solo Violectra was joined by first cello in the orchestra.  Tomasz Grzegorski picked up bass clarinet and Blacq added triangle and Brazilian whistle.  Strings in the orchestra acted as guitar chords, lending the feel of a nice summer day in a nice place with nice people and a nice bottle. 

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 Hammond is here!"  It was the kind of thing you would expect between sidemen in an intimate club, not in the Old Opera house.  Grzegorski goofed around with Kennedy, pretending to bow his sax and even providing the voice of Kennedy's wife in the song subtitled "I'm Going to Give up Living and Go Shopping Instead."  Kennedy's Violectra smoked through the blues.  Of his so-called singing voice, the less said the better.  Maybe Grzegorski should take over.

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 Washington, D.C."  This year, Bush is already a has-been, but his harm persists.  The anti-war protest and support of occupied people is still relevant.  If any number is sure to bring an audience to its feet, this is it.  Kennedy didn't waste any time, though, asking "Would you like to hear one more song?"  He didn't have to ask.  Anyone who has attended a Kennedy concert would expect at least three encores.  But remember how he drop-kicked our expectations at the beginning?  Tonight there was to be only one more song from the ensemble.  Kennedy introduced "a motherfucker of a talent, Xantoné Blacq" to sing "Carnivore of the Animals."  Maybe it's just me thinking of the recent death of a rock-and-roll legend, but I believe the combined group had a Bo Diddley beat happening.  Grzegorski's sax was wailing.  Kennedy's Violectra sliced through the air.  And the Polish Chamber Orchestra can rock!  Conductor and "diplomatic liaison" (Kennedy's words) Julian Kershaw kept the orchestra vamping while looking over his shoulder for a sign that Kennedy's solo was ending, poised like the driver of a high-powered car waiting to enter a crowded round-about.  The beat became a conga line.  The joint was jumpin'!  Then it was all over except for the screaming.

                  
Julian Kershaw, conductor; Kuba Haufa, PCO concertmaster; Xantoné Blacq, percussion, vocal
(Courtesy lmo.co.uk; sinfoniavarsovia.pl; knowtheledge.net) 

 

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.
  

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ROGER: NIGEL'S NEW RECORDING OF THE BEETHOVEN

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Beethoven was a genius – in my humble view, the greatest creator of Art the world has ever seen. His music taps into every emotion the human mind can experience in a way no one else can match. I have listened to his music for many decades, and, as so often, in my case at least, many of the performances which drill themselves into me are those recorded several decades ago.

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 Poland – hence presumably the orchestra.




..........by the Lord Harry, he can play the violin !..........
(Courtesy klassik-in-berlin.de)

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)