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Nigel Kennedy in Tokyo (November 24, 2003)

I assume most of you have heard of Nigel Kennedy, a 1956 born English violinist, who has set an historical record in classical music, having sold zillions of copies his 1989 CD of Invalid’s Four seasons.

Nevertheless to be sure, here is a photo of him copied from his Internet fan club.

His status as one of the great masters of the violin have never ever been questioned, in fact he was already a protégée of the great Yehudi Menuhin at the tender age of 4. However the way he thinks about music and the way he connects wit the audience is even better then his music. It is no use for me to write about the music itself of course, you either listen to it or not, but I will try to share a couple of things regarding his recent performance in Tokyo. I wish I could share some videos or at least some photographs taken at the concert, but the sad fact is, that I am a chicken when it comes to operating recording devices in concerts in Tokyo as I have burnt my fingers here once and in fact got closed to having my head chopped off (quite rightly I must say).

So here they come at the beginning of the first act, a chamber orchestra, Nigel Kennedy and this other solo violinist, a young Polish guy to perform some pieces of Vivaldi. Kennedy introduces the folks, then perform a couple of ritual handshakes with the Polish guys in the fashion of eager teenagers (of the jerks of the school types) trying to look like big boys. Everyone is laughing, the concert is then off to a good start.

The music is very good, Kennedy and the Polish guy are excellent, the audience is really happy, and Kennedy is quite pleased too. After the first two pieces, a guy who arrived late is let in to his seat in the 1000 or more seat concert hall. Kennedy notices the guy and explains him from the podium that he just got into a great concert and how terrible sorry he was that he must have been delayed in the obviously heavy traffic of Tokyo. “It is such a great night here” Kennedy continues, “ great acoustic, and all musician in great form, and an excellent audience. In fact we have just played one great piece from Vivaldi and I feel bad you missed it, but we will play again” and indeed they do it one more time.

Later on, another violin soloist enters the stage. A quite attractive blonde Irish violinist by the name of Cora Venus Lunny, who is pretty much a prodigy on her own right. It would be quite a stretch to describe her outfit as conservative, given that her cloth is designed to be quite provocative with a solid chance for interested parties to peek at places where normally one would see bra. I have to note, it was by no mean vulgar, more like the sophisticated show a bit, leave a lot to the imagination type of sophistication you would see regularly in reports from fashion shows. Nevertheless, we are at a concert at the Sapporo concert hall for a classical music performance so Nigel Kennedy kindly reminds the audience, that good looks are one thing and as an insider, he informed everybody, that her music beats what meets the eye. Nevertheless, they spend a minute or two kissing each other on the cheek to ensure that if anyone had an idea of them being in any quarrel or else, quickly forgets about it.

Between two pieces, he suddenly announces that he has an important thing to attend, a minor one now, but something that can lead to big big trouble if not addressed correctly and down he goes to tie the laces on his black leather boots. By the way, he is dressed like a kind of sophisticated punk, so it would be strange if he wore anything but black leather boots. The fact that he speaks out to the audience is not strange either. Of course there is no microphone, but the acoustic is pretty good, so he can be heard very well. So it is not only talking about his shoelace, all through the concert, he provides detailed introduction to all the various pieces before they play, complete with interesting facts mixed with a bit of humor.

Before the performing the Four seasons, there was a 10-15 minute break, so the musicians had a second formal entry to the stage. They tricked one of the (quite attractive) female member of the orchestra into believing that they all enter at the same time. However Kennedy withholds everyone else and this lady entered the stage in the firm belief that the rest of the musicians were following her. She only realized that she entered alone, when she was already sitting on her chair and opened the score at the appropriate page. When she realized she was alone, everyone started laughing. It was very evident on the faces, that this was an ad hoc piece of entertainment from a bunch of people who are pretty much used to have fun together.

The performance of the Four seasons was just great, leaving no one in doubt the Kennedy is one of the greatest violinist around. Understandably, the audience is pretty pleased and they even clap their hands. Kennedy goes out of the stage and re-enters kicking around a shiny new football ball. He then kicks out the ball to the audience as if he was one of the star player celebrating a victory in a champions league game. (He is quite famous for his love of football and his support for the English team of Aston Villa) Everyone is happy as hell, all is set then for the extra pieces.

At one point he gives an option to the audience, first option being a piece of Hungarian folk music or Jimmy Hendrix (he is very much know for his interest in blues too, having made recording of both his and the music of the Doors interpreted in violin)

Despite my best efforts, the audience decides to go with Jimmy Hendrix. They start to play something I actually could not recognized. Kennedy then walks down from the stage the audience whilst playing his violin. Then while the orchestra continuous to play, he stops from time to time to have funny handshakes with the men and kiss the hands of woman from the audience. He then checks a book  that was placed in the lap of a guy and generally behaves like a guitar player having fun with close friends around a camp fire.

Then he attempts to play a very very very very very emotional piece. His face is torn by emotions, his hand are almost shaking, this piece is so so so filled with emotions that somehow there is now sound coming out of the violin. Takes a few seconds for everyone to realize that he was joking. Everyone has a big laugh again.

In a following extra, for some reason he feels compelled to have a crazy design sunglass on and also tells the story of their previous shows that week up north in the cold Hokkaido and voices his satisfaction regarding the remaining quantity of Polish vodka apparently used in prevention of catching cold or similar maladies. In the last act they improve friendly but quite fierce fight amongst them, all music and running around and chasing each other on stage while playing their respective instruments, then it is over. Bottom line, if Nigel Kennedy is in town, my recommendation is that you go and see him play.

with  best regards,