ELGAR
Violin Concerto in B Minor
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
The Lark Ascending
CDC 5 56413 2
REVIEWS
• Lark Ascending - "Rapt, regretful, overflowing with emotion, the performance has one holding one's breath in wonder."
The Daily Telegraph (November 1997)
• "Kennedy has refined his approach to Elgar since his previous award-winning disc more than ten years ago"
The Times (November 1997)
• Vaughan Williams "There can be no quarrel with such an interpretation."
• Elgar - "It is a deeply thoughtful account of the huge work, full of moments of insight and great tenderness, and Rattle and his expressive orchestra are precise and sympathetic accompanists, or rather equal partners. The haunting accompanied cadenza in the finale, where Elgar looks back as in a dream over the lost past, is exceptionally finely done."
• "The seriousness of Nigel Kennedy's much discussed return to classical music is confirmed by this impressive disc. Kennedy gives a flawless performance, marvellously pure and serene, restrained but passionately felt, of Vaughan Williams's Romance."
• "The Elgar is a deeply thoughtful account of the huge work, full of moments of insight and great tenderness, and Rattle and his expressive orchestra are precise and sympathetic accompanists, or rather equal partners. The haunting accompanied cadenza in the finale, where Elgar looks back as in a dream over the lost past, is exceptionally finally done."
The Sunday Times (November 1997)
• "Kennedy, exploding into the exposition of Elgar's concerto, sounds absolutely superb, the violin declaiming as though it can no longer contain itself after the orchestra's vibrant introduction."
• "Kennedy has always made a beautiful sound - partly because every note is utterly true and undistorted by over-expressive vibrato - but here never more so than at the top of the instrument, where he produces liquid radiance. He plays the work both dramatically and as intimate conversation."
The Scotsman (November 1997)
• "Kennedy takes the accompanied cadenza somewhere very secretive and, in the dying moments of the slow movement, the tone is so personal as to make one almost uncomfortable. Listen to the last note. One note, but it's eternal, and while there's still sound in it, it¼s like nothing is being left unsaid. Now, that is great playing."
• "this extraordinary performance."
Independent (December 1997)
• "The outer movements are faster than before, the slow movement more expansive, with pianissimos of magical intensity, qualities equally impressive in the evocative Vaughan Williams piece."
The Guardian (November 1997)
• "Kennedy... rivets the attention from his superbly commanding initial entry onwards. ...I have nothing but praise for a reading of such wistful intimacy tender luminosity, and daring breadth."
Gramophone (December 1997)
Discography
Concert Reviews
Most Recent International Releases
Kennedy at the Virgin Megastore