Nigel Kennedy at the Opera House - The Official Stationery Cabinet Review

I can report that I saw Nigel Kennedy in concert on Friday at the Opera House, and it was very good. I believe he’s still got some more performances so there’s still time if you want to catch him!

I don’t often get to see classical concerts – who does? And every time I do I’m impressed once again by the unbelievable abilities of the performers. It makes me itch to run to my violin case and get practicing again. It also makes me feel sad and guilty for not playing very much any more. I don’t want to go to concerts too often, for that reason. It reminds me that I’ve lost something while what other people are still doing it. But it makes me feel fantastic, too, just to be there in the room absorbing the music, as if it makes me somehow a better person.

One of things he played was the Mozart violin concerto in D, a concerto I once worked on for several months (again, making me feel bad about my now rusty skills). It’s a fantastic piece for the violin; it brings such a clean, brilliant tone out of the instrument. I think that’s because it’s in D major. It’s full of Ds and Es and As, notes which sound great on the violin because they resonate with open strings and make the instrument vibrate like crazy. It sounds like the violin is singing! I was so inspired, I tried to play a few bars from memory the next day, but I could only remember the first four.

Now, if you’ve ever seen Nigel Kennedy in concert or read about him, you’ll know he’s very different from your average soloist, if there is such a thing. At one point he took time off classical music completely and because a jazz performer. Now he’s back with classical, but likes to market himself as a bit of a rebel. He wears punky outfits instead of the standard formal suit. He talks in a deliberately cockney accent and chats with the audience throughout the performance. Personally, I think he’s a bit of a dork, but I must admit he’s engaging. For example, an audience member was admitted late, after the first piece was over. As he made his way to his seat about six rows from the front, Nigel Kennedy said, “Hello! You’ve missed the first piece.” The guy looked round to realize that the entire auditorium and performers were laughing at him. “I know, how embarrassing,” Kennedy continued. “Don’t worry, only four seats to go…” He always does that to latecomers at his concerts, but it never ceases to be funny! Well, I think so.

He told us a cheeky story from one of his tours. I'm not sure I really got the point but you should have heard the older audience members tittering. They were scandalized and loving it! (“That Nigel…what a rascal!” you can imagine them saying to each other.) Seriously, there are few things nerdier than classical musicians and their fans.

But despite the ‘punk’ image guaranteed to thrill your mum and the surely put-on cockney accent and the swearing, and the jazz cadenzas, he is a very serious classical musician. You couldn’t doubt that from the technical fireworks, and even better, the deep concentration and sensitivity he displayed in the (extremely long) Beethoven concerto he played in the second half. I’d never heard the Beethoven concerto before and it’s never as easy to appreciate a piece you don’t know as an old favourite, but it was beautiful, and I loved the attention and commitment he gave it. He looked like he was in another world completely for the duration (and it was a long duration!) of the piece, and I just love that. It’s how I feel when I’m playing something special for people.

And did I mention, we got a discount on our tickets? Thank you, Entertainment Book!