Bach: Violin Concertos / Concerto for oboe and violin / Concerto for two violins in D minor

Editor's Choice - Gramophone Magazine (Dec 2000)

"Charismatic Bach playing from Kennedy and the strings of the BPO in performances that are built on live concerts."
(Gramophone)

For nearly twenty years, Kennedy has been acknowledged as one of the world's leading violin virtuosos and is, without doubt, one of the most important violinists Britain has ever produced. His virtuosic technique, unique talent and popular appeal have brought fresh perspectives to both the classical and contemporary repertoire.

As a child prodigy, Kennedy was Sir Yehudi Menuhin's most famous protégé, studying first at the Menuhin School before moving to the Juilliard School of Music in New York to study with the celebrated teacher, Dorothy DeLay.

Throughout his career, Kennedy has undertaken major tours throughout Europe, Australia, Canada, the Far East, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, performing with the world's major orchestras and conductors; he has made appearances at the most important festivals in Europe and the United States. Major debuts include his 1977 London Royal Festival Hall appearance, performing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, with the Philharmonia under Riccardo Muti, his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1980 and his New York orchestral debut in 1987.

Throughout his career, Kennedy has attracted enormous media attention. In 1989, he gave two Royal Command Performances in the UK, the first at Birmingham's NEC for the Prince's Trust and the second at the London Palladium for the Royal Variety Performance before Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Philip. Kennedy's interpretation of The Four Seasons was the feature of a BBC television programme and the violinist was also the subject of ITV's This is your Life in March 1990. The following year, Kennedy was featured in two UK television specials in which he performed Vivaldi's Four Seasons and the Bruch Violin Concerto.

A major EMI artist since the beginning of his career, Kennedy's multi-award-winning discography is extensive. He has made two highly-acclaimed recordings of Elgar's Violin Concerto: the first, with the London Philharmonic and Vernon Handley, achieved gold disc status, was voted 1985 Record of the Year by Gramophone magazine and was awarded Best Classical Album of the Year at the BPI Awards, selling in excess of 300,000 copies. His recordings of the Brahms and Beethoven violin concertos have sold over 100,000 each. Kennedy's landmark recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons earned a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the best-selling classical work of all time. Over 2 million copies were sold and the album remained top of the UK classical charts for an amazing six months.

Other major releases include the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the London Philharmonic; the Bartók Solo Sonata together with Mainly Black, Kennedy's own arrangement of Ellington's Black Brown and Beige Suite; the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle; Walton's Violin Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and André Previn and the Bruch and Mendelssohn concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jeffrey Tate. EMI has also released an acclaimed disc of Kennedy's own compositions, Kafka. Kennedy's recording of the Brahms Violin Concerto with the London Philharmonic, under the direction of Klaus Tennstedt, was released in March 1991 and, in June 1992, Kennedy joined forces with the NDR-Sinfonieorchester and Klaus Tennstedt to record the Beethoven Violin Concerto. Also in Kennedy's catalogue are chamber works by Debussy and Ravel, and Berg's Violin Concerto.

Kennedy launched Always Playing, a popular book about part of his life - the violinist is loathe to call it a biography - at the Edinburgh Book Fair in August 1991, published in paperback the following year.

In 1992, Kennedy took the controversial and highly publicised decision to embark on a sabbatical, withdrawing completely from all public performances. Following the five-year sabbatical, Kennedy made a triumphant return to the international concert platform in April 1997. The performance took place during the run-up to the last British General Election, and news of Kennedy's reappearance occupied the front pages of national newspapers. The Times critic declared, "Only one British violinist in my lifetime has produced anything as bold and exhilarating as that. It is his playing, though, that most reveals Kennedy's new maturity. No other violinist on earth could manage the astonishing stylistic transition presented." The Daily Telegraph stated, "Here was a reminder that Kennedy is a violinist in a million."

Since then, Kennedy has been in constant demand on the international circuit, touring cities throughout Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Far East; in 1998, he made a highly acclaimed American tour, his first in over five years.

On his return to the studio, Kennedy re-recorded the Elgar Violin Concerto, alongside Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending, with Sir Simon Rattle and the CBSO. The Daily Telegraph reviewer commented, "the unaccompanied cadenza in the finale has a greater spine-tingling eeriness than I have ever experienced before and the closing bars unleash a quite shattering intensity." Kennedy's last recital disc was devoted to the works of the great violinist and composer, Fritz Kreisler. Last year, EMI released Classic Kennedy, a collection of short pieces with the English Chamber Orchestra, which shot straight to number 1 in the UK classical charts. 1999 also saw the release of The Kennedy Experience, an album, produced by Kennedy himself, of works based on and inspired by the music of the legendary Jimi Hendrix. Earlier this year, Kennedy joined forces with one of the world's leading 'cellists, Lynn Harrell, for a critically acclaimed disc of chamber works by Bach, Ravel & Kodaly.

Over the past few months, Kennedy has been busy in the recording studio and autumn 2000 will see the European release of his first disc of works by Bach, a programme featuring four of Bach's best-known works: the Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, the Concerto for Oboe and Violin in D Minor and the A Minor and E Major violin concertos. Directed by the violinist himself, it also represents the first recording collaboration between Kennedy and one of the world's oldest and most revered orchestras, the Berlin Philharmonic.