"In Confidence" with Nigel Kennedy

[Mr Pee]

Where does one go to have an irony by-pass? I think I could do with one too.

No idea, but I have a feeling you wouldn't get it done on the NHS.

[Dave2002]

Presumably this one has been pre-recorded to cut out the swear words?

I ***** **** hope not! ****!

[Mr Pee]

Presumably this one has been pre-recorded to cut out the swear words?

There were some "beeps" inserted to mask them....

Having watched the programme, I am afraid it hasn't changed my opinion of Nige. He came out with some stories that I found hard to believe- for example, at the age of 13 or 14 he claims he failed to turn up for a performance of the Bach double concerto with Menuhin because he went to a nearby pub and ended up so drunk that he was woken up at closing time by the landlord kicking him. Really?? I think some of his stories are, shall we say, "embroidered" for the sake of his image.

Anyway, I'm not converted.

Ann Leslie next Monday. Should be interesting.

[amateur51]

At last. The penny has dropped. We got there in the end.

Once again, an ironic remark is misunderstood.

In evidence ...

Watch classic programmes about the art of the interview in BBC Four's Talk Collection

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01dy7pr/Talk_at_the_BBC_Episode_1/

Mark Lawson talks to legendary broadcaster Terry Wogan about his life and 50-year career, from his early years on Irish radio to his ever-popular Radio 2 show

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01dpph9/Mark_Lawson_Talks_To..._Terry_Wogan/

Later: even more ....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/collections/p00p2k2v/talk

[VodkaDilc]

I agree with Mr Pee about Nigel Kennedy. The image now appears too contrived and the speech is completely out of keeping for a musician in his mid-50s. I believe that it is possible to find his interview on television when he was about 8 and speaking like a well-brought-up middle class boy who was about to win a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School. His informal approach to concert-giving was refreshing in the 1970s and 80s, but it has since lurched into unconvincing territory.

I recall John Drummond thought the same, so Mr Pee and I are in very distinguished company:

Kennedy was attacked for his approach to classical music by John Drummond in 1991, who called him "a Liberace for the Nineties" and criticised his "ludicrous clothes and grotesque, self-invented accent."

[Serial_Apologist]

I agree with Mr Pee about Nigel Kennedy. The image now appears too contrived and the speech is completely out of keeping for a musician in his mid-50s. I believe that it is possible to find his interview on television when he was about 8 and speaking like a well-brought-up middle class boy who was about to win a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School. His informal approach to concert-giving was refreshing in the 1970s and 80s, but it has since lurched into unconvincing territory.

I recall John Drummond thought the same, so Mr Pee and I are in very distinguished company:

Kennedy was attacked for his approach to classical music by John Drummond in 1991, who called him "a Liberace for the Nineties" and criticised his "ludicrous clothes and grotesque, self-invented accent."

They tried to electrocute me at a private school with vowels above my pay-grade too, in my case once they found I had a voice that suited the treble solos in Purcell and Britten. What I have now is how I speak. I'd agree if we were criticising NK's jazz violin playing, but his version of the Berg VC, which I have, says something positive about the man.

[LeMartinPecheur]

...his version of the Berg VC, which I have, says something positive about the man.

His EMI Walton vln & vla concertos disc makes me forgive a lot of his peripherals too!

[MrGongGong]

I'm not a great fan of the whole Violin genius thing
BUT
from the professional musicians I know who have worked with Nige all I hear is high praise
I find the whole objection to him on the basis of how he looks or how his voice sounds a bit pathetic really
if he wants to choose to play with Polish Jazz musicians then that really is his choice

the musicians I know who have worked with him rate his playing and approach to music very highly indeed

to my ears
I've always been impressed and interested in what he has done , the Four Seasons recording for example draws out the extraordinary weirdness in the music

[Flosshilde]

Originally Posted by amateur51
As created by the BBC in 1959, revived by the BBC with Jeremy Isaacs in 1989 - a well-tested format but scarcely cutting edge

To make sure I know what is actually meant by the expression 'cutting edge', as used by the young these days, I consulted Cambridge Dictionaries Online and came up with:

Definition - very modern and with all the newest features

So Face to Face (1959) is not 'cutting edge'!

Which is exactly the point that Am was making, I think

[Mr Pee]

Which is exactly the point that Am was making, I think

Possibly...or possibly not.....I'm really past caring......

[amateur51]

They tried to electrocute me at a private school with vowels above my pay-grade too, in my case once they found I had a voice that suited the treble solos in Purcell and Britten. What I have now is how I speak. I'd agree if we were criticising NK's jazz violin playing, but his version of the Berg VC, which I have, says something positive about the man.

Ooer thanks for that, S_A I didn't know that Nige had recorded it - I shall seek it out

It's odd that people expect experts in one field to be consummate in all fields, or even to match their own predelictions. He is what he is - even if you think he's phoney. I can cope with Kennedy in a way I find difficult with Lang

[VodkaDilc]

Ooer thanks for that, S_A I didn't know that Nige had recorded it - I shall seek it out

It's odd that people expect experts in one field to be consummate in all fields, or even to match their own predelictions. He is what he is - even if you think he's phoney. I can cope with Kennedy in a way I find difficult with Lang

Chalk and cheese, in my opinion! Kennedy is a superb artist, who, for reasons of his own, seems to have adopted a phony image. Lang Lang is..........different. I would not choose to listen to a CD of LL, yet I have many of Kennedy.

[Flosshilde]

Chalk and cheese, in my opinion! Kennedy is a superb artist, who, for reasons of his own, seems to have adopted a phony image.

The image would only be phony if it didn't reflect the real Nigel Kennedy, or what he feels is the real Nigel Kennedy, but was something adopted simply for marketing - to create a usp & make him stand out from the crowd. The fact that he has maintained it for so long, & still keeps it probably long past its sell by date, suggests that it is how he feels he is. Many of us here (including me & Am) can recognise self re-invention (or self-invention) & the creation of a persona that more truly reflects what we feel, or know, about ourselves.

That doesn't mean that we can't find Kennedy's image jarring, & it can get in the way of appreciating his (musical) performance.

[amateur51]

The image would only be phony if it didn't reflect the real Nigel Kennedy, or what he feels is the real Nigel Kennedy, but was something adopted simply for marketing - to create a usp & make him stand out from the crowd. The fact that he has maintained it for so long, & still keeps it probably long past its sell by date, suggests that it is how he feels he is. Many of us here (including me & Am) can recognise self re-invention (or self-invention) & the creation of a persona that more truly reflects what we feel, or know, about ourselves.

That doesn't mean that we can't find Kennedy's image jarring, & it can get in the way of appreciating his (musical) performance.

This is an interesting subject in itself, Flossie. When I first heard Mitsuko Uchida playing Mozart I was enthralled and I bought tickets for all her performances of Mozart's piano concertos with English Chamber Orchestra for that season at Queen Elizabeth Hall. I found her facial and bodily swoonings so very disturbing that I gave several of the tickets away. And yet I had no such problems with Alfred Brendel's almost constant facial contortions. Brendel is now retired and Uchida has perhaps allowed her performance mannerisms to subside (me? mellowed too? really? :biggrin).

When I watched Kennedy performing Elgar's violin concerto a few years back at the Proms, I was able completely to ignore his clothes and physical appearance. All I 'experienced' was a genuine completely focussed artist striving to convey the piece and what it meant to him to the audience, and very succesfully too in my opinion, a performabnce that I would gladly watch/listen to again.

Funny old world