Customer Reviews

Classic Kennedy

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As one commentator has put it, you will either love or hate <Classical Nigel> on EMI (56890-2), spotlighting that cross-over badboy of music, Nigel Kennedy and his violin. My estimate falls somewhat between the emotions: amused tolerance. If Streisand wants to do German Lieder, that is her privilege; and no one is surprised when it comes out lousy. If Kiri Te Kanawa wants to do Cole Porter, you might argue that her style is simply not that required for "Anything Goes," all the while being influenced by how you feel about her as an opera superstar. Kennedy, however, stimulates more violent reactions from his fans and from his detractors, as witness the other reviews on this site.

Here we have 20 cuts of violin music ranging from Vivaldi to Joni Mitchell and the modest soloist himself. The order is not at all carefully thought out and if you hit the random play button the results will be much the same (except for the Kennedy work which he carefully put at the end). Then again, any program that has the hauntingly beautiful Gershwin "Prelude No. 2," the Debussy "Girl With the Flaxen Hair," and the traditional "Scarborough Fair" is not to be despised as long as the melodies are not wrenched out of all recognition. Here they are given respectful treatment and the other 17 pieces are either on the mark stylistically or very far off it but enjoyable on their own terms.

The English Chamber Orchestra gives the soloist fine support, although the sudden vocal for the Scarborough cut is intrusive but eerie enough to be interesting.

A while back I had heard about a British violin soloist named Nigel Kennedy, who was working on transcribing songs by Jimi Hendrix for the violin. I had altogether forgotten his name until my friend lent me a copy of Kennedy's 1999 release 'Classical Kennedy', and when I saw the pictures of him with his Morrisey haircut, stubbly facial hair, and his leather jacket, I recognized this controversial figure, the so-called "Bad Boy" of classical music.

'Classical Kennedy' is an exploration of the violin not as the solo voice of a gargantuan half-hour concerto but, rather, the lead voice in a three to five-minute song, and it explores this concept from Bach to Joni Mitchell. Right away this poses a serious undertaking- it is difficult to achieve continuity in a classical album that practically spans the history of Western art music. However, this conflict is partly resolved by the consistency of the tracks' lengths.

Kennedy has a distinct sound, and his little "trick" is that he sometimes plays really hard and really fast. He occasionally draws an elegant and pure tone that listeners expect from a great soloist, but he also has the tendency to turn a beautiful phrase into a crude and apathetic statement. These days the idea of a violinist who isn't utterly predictable, and is willing to take liberties with the repertoire, is a pleasant muse, but Nigel Kennedy is certainly not the ideal solution.

Kennedy's gimmick becomes his fatal flaw- in classical music, the notes speak for themselves. He makes Bach and Brahms sound hoarse and nasal. Ask any professional violinist and they'll tell you that, though there isn't one exact way to play any piece, there are limits on what one should do with a phrase, and that rule is implicit through understanding the composition. It's a hard truth to face, and perhaps only a trained musician fully understands this phenomenon. Either way, there needs to be an intimacy between the performer and the listener. All in all, Kennedy's technique caves in on itself. He plays as if taking great liberties at every turn were in itself a good thing. He cuts off a note that should sing, his sense of tempo is awkward at best- he seems to be driven by self-indulgent whims rather than musical passion.

There are points in the album where I think that his approach does utter disservice to the piece. For example, his interpretation of Massenet's 'Meditations' simply does not compare to Itzhak Perlman's flawless, dramatic performance on 'A La Carte'. Kennedy's Chopin 'Nocturne in C#' (which really sounds better with just a piano) doesn't at all capture the emotion and power of Sarah Chang's performance on 'Sweet Sorrow'. I'm not saying that every single track on this album is a loser. But where he fails miserably in some regards is that his playing strays into avant-garde quirks, and it becomes somewhat ignorant to the music in the piece. Ivry Gitlis quoted in the DVD 'The Art of Violin' that 'of course it's an insult to music when somebody says 'that's the benchmark performance' or 'that's how it's supposed to be played''. But in a lot of classical works, the personality and individuality of the performer lay in the subtleties of the performance, not in urinating on the very things that made the piece wonderful and then hoping that the listener will somehow connect with it.

Nigel Kennedy, from a technical standpoint, is a musician to be envied, but I am certainly not one of his defenders. I am a violinist, and I have a life-long love and respect for some of these compositions. When I see these works become so utterly removed from the things that made them great in the first place, I become disappointed and depressed- but not because 'Classic Kennedy' has somehow offended me. Rather, these days it seems that classical record labels, big-shot corporate management, and major symphony orchestras, seem to think that a soloist with a clever gimmick is a cure for a disease effecting a dying genre. But classical music has upheld itself through discipline, conservation, and passion. In a lot of the pieces on this album, Kennedy abandons those values, and unfortunately the result is music that is surprisingly un-musical.

I have two frames of mind when I listen to Classical. I want to either listen to something soothing and not have it as my primary focus or have something that stands out and keeps my attention. For me, this cd falls into the latter category. This cd is by far my favorite Nigel cd and gets a lot of heavy rotation.

As a matter of fact, I'm purchasing a second copy for a friend of mine. She recently started listening to classical and isn't sure where to start. I think this cd fits that need perfectly.

Simply,I like to listen to great music in this CD. I'm interested in classical music and I knew already some of the titles in this CD before buying it. I should confess that while I was buying this CD , It's for the titles whose names I have never heard. I wanted to hear new and good sound. Because I trust Kennedy's pleasure ,and I thought these couldn't be bad,and I was not wrong. Even if you know some famous titles "Presto from summer -vivaldi" or "Air on string the G string- Bach" or "Hungarian Dance -No5 Brahms) , listen to them again with Kennedy's interesting and outstanding performance. You won't regret it.

I had only heard Kennedy one other time and knew that this would be good, as it is. I'm not new to classical music and can say that Kennedy's playing is clear and beautiful. I don't know why others have such a hard time with it, but if it's talented and artistic violin music that you're looking for then this is for you...

I came to love classical music through classical crossover, but have dumped crossover after listening to artists like Perlman and Hahn. So was very apprehensive going back to a "crossover" artist.

After a minute into his interpretation of Vivaldi's third movement of Summer, I was hooked. Although Nigel may not play the pieces in a way that is considered "proper", he brings his own style which is intense and highly emotional. The sound he can extract from his violin is engaging, and I always feel as if his violin is singing/crying to me. I've also heard several versions of "The Flight of the Bumble-Bee", but this version just makes me giggle.

The only weakness for me is the mixing of classical & traditional music. Songs such as "Scarborough Fair" and the Joni Mitchell song seem out of place. Perhaps it was EMI's goal to show Nigel's approach to different styles of music, but "this mixing things up" personally doesn't work for me.

If you like the classical music on this CD, also pick up his Vivaldi CD's. If you like the traditional stuff, then get his "East Meets East" CD.

On a scale of love-hate, I love this CD. No: I -L-O-V-E- it. That is a masterpiece in itself. I'm neither violinist nor classical musician, not even very experienced classical listener - though I enjoy "Der Ring des Nibelungen" much deeper than "Love Me Tender". What strikes me in Nigel's playing, and on this album particularly, is his incredible technical brilliance. When he plays a note it is always THE NOTE he's meant to play. Not a 1/16 tone mistake, not a 1/10 millimeter shift. Few singers are capable of such exactness, much less violin players. With a brush like this, you can paint whatever picture you want. And the pictures of Nigel's are just incredible. The deepest of his feelings are portrayed in his music with such a delicacy and balance, and with great confidence. On to titles: my personal faves are Brahms, Chopin, Bach, Satie and Kroll's. "Banjo and Fiddle" is so ironic and courteous, "Zigeunerweisen" is heartbreaking, "Nocturne in C Sharp minor" makes you breathless of its sweet sadness. "Hungarian Dance 5" swept all other versions away: compared to Kennedy's brave, sharp, masculine, fiery rendition, any other version seems like glucose syrup compared to juicy meat. "Air on the G String" is so airy and transparent. And "Czardas" is probably the best thing I've ever heard in my life...

Flawless. Brilliant. Beautiful.

I surprised myself when I bought this CD. I never thought I would actually spend money on classical music until I heard this CD in a music store. The pieces aren't too long (which usually bores me about classical music) and I like the collection (except for 2 pieces). The music is played perfectly that I can actually picture his expressions although I have never heard of Nigel Kennedy nor have I seen him perform. It has to be good since I was moved to buy it. It was money well spent. If you are new to classical music just as I am, this is a treat.

Classic Kennedy is a 1999 EMI Classics recording starring Nigel Kennedy and the English Chamber Orchestra. The sound quality is a bit supbar which is a shame. Julian Haylock has written the music notes. Also included are notes by Kennedy himself. The booklet also contains photographs from the time of the recording. Recommended. 4/5.

Twenty pieces from as many composers or nearly (two author repeats) from baroque times to modern times, from Italy to the United States, though only from the Western world. The objective of this CD is to show the immense variety of the performer, his virtuosity, flexibility and adaptability. The second objective of this CD is to provide a showcase for the violin that is the real star of the show. But the CD has no real unity in its extreme variety, and it does not speak one language, not even that of the violin, because the violin is only the vocal cord of the composer's language and there is so little in common in the languages of Vivaldi and Gershwin, except the harmonics of the good modern classical violin, which is historically false. Yet the pieces chosen here are so well-known that we can consider the CD as a real success because we move from one beauty to the next, from one piece of candy to the subsequent next sweet. It looks like the table laden with all the sweets and pastries at the beginning of Forman's film "Amadeus", that table under which Mozart is smooching with his future wife, and from which the glutton and jealous Salmieri is satisfying his sweet tooth, his gluttony. In the end we can even get slightly sick with too much sugar, honey or hydromel. A menu must have some unity beyond contrastive elements but we cannot really enjoy a four course meal, or a twenty course banquet at that, if all the courses are nothing but different preparations of one single element, be it pumpkin, mint or cherries. But such a CD has an audience. Those who want to enjoy one three to four minute piece after another with no obligation to bridge or cement the eighty minutes or so of the whole CD together. Twenty drops of pleasure that do not make an ocean in which one could get drowned. The unity comes really from Nigel Kennedy's personal harmonics. But that's not what I expect. I expect a Bohemian, even gypsy, or Jewish style for some pieces. And I do not hear the ascetic Lutheran Bach the same way as the brilliant bright exuberant Catholic Vivaldi. They don't even see the instrument the same way. Too much homogenizing makes things kind of less original.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines