Menuhin Elgar

The Radio Legacy is a compilation of the seven part Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the four box sets devoted to the orchestra s chief conductors Willem Mengelberg, Eduard van Beinum, Bernard Haitink and Riccardo Chailly, and also featuring more recent recordings with Mariss Jansons.

Deutsche Grammophon proudly presents 42 of its greatest ever recordings for violin, from its matchless catalogue of the finest violinists of the last 75 years. Fritz Kreisler began it all for the company by recording a series of his own compositions and arrangements. 31 violinists grace 111 The Violin, with recordings from the early 1900s to 2012.

Nigel Kennedy - Plays Jazz (1984)
Label: Chandos | MP3 320 KB/s | Covers | Total Time: 54:55 | 139 MB
Genre: Jazz Instrumental Violin

In this day and age of unspontaneous music making, even in the fields of pop and jazz music, Peter Pettinger and I for this disc, at least, were totally unrehearsed. And I hope that the spontaneity which arose because of this has more than made up for the lack of rehearsal. I, certainly, can imagine having spent far more time and worry on a worse disc … but let me tell you how the disc came to be in the first place:
To be honest, I suppose I should say I am more well known as a classical musician, and it was in this guise that Peter Pettinger and I went happily to the pub having just finished recording the Elgar sonata and pieces four hours ahead of schedule. After a drink we both felt like playing again and Brian Couzens (our producer) was game enough to come and record us. My years playing with Stephane Grappelli and in clubs in New York have left me with an insatiable appetite for playing jazz (and, incidentally, any other kind of music) and since Peter Pettinger is such a tremendous jazz pianist we decided to play a few standards. Here is what we came up with, completely unrehearsed and unedited. Stephane Grappelli often used to call me his musical grandson, so 1 hope he likes this disc but will allow his "grandson" to misbehave once in a while…Nigel Kennedy

This DVD contains pieces of two polish romantic composers, Mieczyslaw Karlowicz and Emil Mlynarski, performed by Nigel Kennedy accompanied by the Polish Chamber Orchestra, recorded live during various concerts in Poland.
While Nigel Kennedy is one of the leading violinists of his generation, he is also among the most controversial of musicians before the public, owing to his flashy persona, unconventional interpretations, and his seemingly innate sense to capture attention. Kennedy's rock-star-like appearance in concert (glittering jewelry, spiky hair, etc.) and his controversial politics (he has boycotted Israel, comparing that nation with South Africa) have often drawn sharp criticism.

A 7CD collection tracing Nigel Kennedy’s journey from the phenomenal Elgar concerto with Vernon Handley in 1984 through to his ground-breaking Vivaldi Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1989 – the recording which launched him to global super-stardom. “If it wasn’t for a spiky-haired Nigel Kennedy’s 1989 recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons,” the Classic FM radio station told its website’s readers a few years back, “you and I might not be listening to Classic FM today”. The station had launched in 1992 with a mission to bring classical music to a wider public, three years after the runaway success of young violinist Nigel Kennedy’s Vivaldi album had revealed an untapped audience just waiting for the right invitation.

The title is Romantic Adagios II. The description is "Over 2 1/2 hours of the world's most passionate music." What these are, in other words, are two discs of seduction music, which is fine. Using music for seductive purposes is the oldest ploy in the world. From Orpheus up to Ol' Blue Eyes, music hath charms to arouse, inflame, and incite lascivious and lubricious behavior. The whole purpose of this disc is to ensure a successful seduction. It sure isn't because sticking all of these Adagios together doesn't make any sort of musical sense.