Search - Edward Elgar, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Simon Rattle :: Elgar: Violin Concerto Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending and Kennedy: Simon Rattle City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

Kennedy's Remake of the Elgar Violin Concerto

KH | Chicago, IL | 04/11/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is Kennedy's second recording of this work--the first was with Vernon Handly and the London Phil, also for EMI. That first recording was excellent, though pretty straightforward. This remake is truly bizarre in many ways, yet ultimately the most moving recording of the work yet made. It is one of the slowest recordings of this music, but there is great pulse and variety within each movement--generally, Kennedy lingers when he takes the center stage, and Rattle and the orchestra inject impetuosity when they take center stage. It makes for a tug of war, but ultimately an exciting one. Kennedy obviously loves this work--no one has ever played it better. Some may say he loves it to death, fiddling with tempi, drawing out a phrase here, digging into one there. To me, it all adds up to an intensely personal and emotional performance.Recorded sound is first rate. Rattle and his orchestra are world class, bold and fierce where appropriate, meltingly beautiful when needed. If I could only have one recording of this music, it would be this one; however, people learning the work for the first time may find Kennedy's first recording more cogent and approachable.The Lark Ascending is by far the slowest recording ever; it's amazing Kennedy can maintain his intonation at the end. Some may find the performance grotesquely drawn out; again, I hear a deeply felt performance."

A worthy companion to the historic recordings

Jay | Republic of Ireland | 10/26/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"OK I confess, I have never rated Kennedy as a soloist. Particularly when I compare him with Menuhin, Oistrakh ,Heifetz or even Vengerov, but this recording has made me reconsider. For me most studio recordings of classical music made during the last 15 - 20 years have a homogeneous quality which leaves precious little room for artistic interpretation. With that in mind I find Kennedy's spontaneity in the Lark Ascending and the first and second movements of the concerto a refreshing break with convention and a little more in the finale would have added greatly to the whole. After growing up listening to the great Menuhin/Elgar recording on LP belonging to my late uncle and being reintroduced to it via the even better Sammons/Wood performance when I was in university, I honestly wasn't expecting much from this CD, but I was oh so happy to be wrong. As great as the old recordings are - and they remain the touchstone recordings - there are times for me, when the 78rpm sourced sound can get in the way of the music and make me long for a great stereo performance. Now I have it and many late (and enjoyable!) nights have been spent in the company of this CD. If you are looking for a modern recording of the Elgar Concerto, this is the one. Period!"

Nigel Kennedy: There Really IS a Musician Beneath the Hype

Karl Henning | Boston, MA | 11/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Even if he had not written a great deal of other brilliant music, Elgar's concerti for violin and violoncello assure him a place among music's immortals. Nigel Kennedy does a great job here; he and Simon Rattle work so well together here, it is a shame that Kennedy's famous temperament doesn't permit him to work with Rattle more (but maybe Rattle is temperamental too, who knows?)The one time I heard Kennedy live, my shoulder was tapped to turn pages for his accompanist in the Elgar violin sonata. Before that afternoon, I hadn't realized Elgar ever wrote a violin sonata. The brilliance of that piece, and the brilliance of Nigel's performance that day (he also played his heart out in the Bartók solo sonata) are captured unfailingly in all this disc, for all its being a different occasion and different music.Had never heard the Vaughan Williams before; marvelous, gossamer, magical."