In Thursday’s (9/1) Daily Telegraph (London), Adam Sweeting writes, “They say that Nigel Kennedy divides opinion, but he hasn’t lost his ability to pull a crowd. For his late-night performance of solo Bach at the Proms in early August, throngs of customers were still straining at the doors trying to get in well after the scheduled 10pm start time. As the unorthodox fiddler had told me previously, he approached the performance with deadly seriousness. … His 1989 recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons remains one of the bestselling classical discs of all time. Yet, today, he devotes the greater part of his energy to his own particular blend of jazz-crossover music, which he explores further on his new album, The Four Elements. … On his forthcoming tour, he will play The Four Seasons and The Four Elements back to back, though the Vivaldi is likely to sprout a few unfamiliar protuberances. Kennedy has recruited drum programmer Damon Reece, who has worked with Massive Attack and Goldfrapp, to rearrange Vivaldi’s familiar furniture. … Different aspects of Kennedy’s musical history teem through the new compositions. The overture moves from a classical introduction through passages of rasping electric violin and prog-rock riffing to an outro featuring a mariachi trumpet.”
Posted September 2, 2011
