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Format: CD

item number: 342QS

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CD Details

Released: January 7, 2003
Originally Released: 2003
Label: Emi Classics

Tracks:

1.Vivaldi: Spring, Allegro (The Four Seasons)
2.Massenet: Meditation (Thais)
3.Satie: Gymnopedie No. 1
4.Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
5.Debussy: The Girl With the Flaxen Hair
6.Bach: Sonata for Solo Violin in C, Allegro assai
7.Kreisler: Praeludium and Allegro
8.Bach: Es ist genug, so nimm, Herr
9.Danny Boy
10.Scarborough Fair
11.Melody in the Wind
12.Monti: Scardas
13.Vivaldi: Autumn, Allegro (The Four Seasons)

Product Description:

Violinist Nigel Kennedy long stopped annoying or surprising concertgoers and disc buyers with his looks and manners--the cover of this CD pictures him with red and blue paint on his face, and he's biting his violin. If that irritates you, his playing certainly will not. Here, two movements from Vivaldi's Four Seasons act as bookends to, among other pieces: a Satie Gymnopédie, exquisitely played, with lovely embellishments near its close; Vaughan Williams's floating Lark Ascending; a stunning, virtuosic Bach solo (never before released); a soft-edged Bach chorale; a soupy, sentimental "Danny Boy"; a slightly overwrought "Scarborough Fair"; a piece by Kennedy himself; and a few other surprises. Kennedy's tone is lush and warm, and his emotionalism almost never overwhelms the music. Greatest hits? More like greatest encores. But definitely a terrific 71 minutes of fiddling. --Robert Levine