Nigel Kennedy - still the top Proms geezer after a twenty one year absence.
Last night a punky violin virtuoso saved my life.
Okay, that's an overstatement, but in the midst of all the f*ckwit hyperbole about bloody Daleks performing ballet*, and the sort of "cultural exchange" which results in England getting a trainload of East European plumbers and electricians, whilst Nigel Kennedy sods off to Poland, you need to take your comfort where you find it...
Something happens to Elgar's Violin Concerto when the Mockney maestro gets his fiddle around it. Something remarkable. To borrow a totally inappropriate visual metaphor from Hollywood, it's the equivalent of black and white Kansas turning into Technicolor Oz. The ghost of Edward's moustache may have bristled at the sight of Kennedy's stubble and designer rags on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, but once that bow hit the strings...
"Nige" was - still is - a national treasure, and he's picked up some astonishing talent on his travels. The Nigel Kennedy Quintet would've been enough to guarantee a couple of hours of top-notch entertainment by themselves, but do you know who got wheeled out from the wings to join 'em in their jazz odyssey** last night?
Jeff Beck.
I've no idea what sort of audio set-ups you people have on your computers out there, but if you've got some decent external speakers tucked away, gathering dust in a cupboard or something, then dig 'em out and plug 'em in for the BBC's iPlayer, and catch the one broadcast that almost makes up for the utter dross of programming which dominates the Beeb's output these days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00csfgt
Welcome back, Nigel.
And don't leave it so flippin' long next time...
_________________________________
Conference Call With a Great Old One...or Two.
Cheers to astartesyriaca for capturing the terrible moment. And for being jolly brave.
I'm fine now. Really.
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7527232.stm
**Sorry, just too hard to resist a Spinal Tap reference, but Kennedy's inter-piece mutterings about Saturn and Planet Earth - before hitting us with his best Hendrix cover version ("Third Stone From the Sun") since 1993's "Fire" - were perfectly inoffensive stabs of comic relief between the bouts of insane genius.
Okay, that's an overstatement, but in the midst of all the f*ckwit hyperbole about bloody Daleks performing ballet*, and the sort of "cultural exchange" which results in England getting a trainload of East European plumbers and electricians, whilst Nigel Kennedy sods off to Poland, you need to take your comfort where you find it...
Something happens to Elgar's Violin Concerto when the Mockney maestro gets his fiddle around it. Something remarkable. To borrow a totally inappropriate visual metaphor from Hollywood, it's the equivalent of black and white Kansas turning into Technicolor Oz. The ghost of Edward's moustache may have bristled at the sight of Kennedy's stubble and designer rags on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, but once that bow hit the strings...
"Nige" was - still is - a national treasure, and he's picked up some astonishing talent on his travels. The Nigel Kennedy Quintet would've been enough to guarantee a couple of hours of top-notch entertainment by themselves, but do you know who got wheeled out from the wings to join 'em in their jazz odyssey** last night?
Jeff Beck.
I've no idea what sort of audio set-ups you people have on your computers out there, but if you've got some decent external speakers tucked away, gathering dust in a cupboard or something, then dig 'em out and plug 'em in for the BBC's iPlayer, and catch the one broadcast that almost makes up for the utter dross of programming which dominates the Beeb's output these days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00csfgt
Welcome back, Nigel.
And don't leave it so flippin' long next time...
_________________________________
Conference Call With a Great Old One...or Two.
Cheers to astartesyriaca for capturing the terrible moment. And for being jolly brave.
I'm fine now. Really.
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7527232.stm
**Sorry, just too hard to resist a Spinal Tap reference, but Kennedy's inter-piece mutterings about Saturn and Planet Earth - before hitting us with his best Hendrix cover version ("Third Stone From the Sun") since 1993's "Fire" - were perfectly inoffensive stabs of comic relief between the bouts of insane genius.