Nigel Kennedy in Helsinki: The Violin – Past and Future

After Marios Papadopoulos' propulsive account of Brahms' Third Symphony, Nigel Kennedy joined the Oxford Philomusica to give an unpredictable and inconsistent performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto.

The Last Night of the Proms provided a welcome tying-up of the various strands that have permeated this year’s season: British light music, the 60th anniversary of the Coronation, a host of premières and new BBC commissions, and the significant anniversaries of a number of composers (including the big-hitters of the season, Wagner and Britten).

Can it really be nearly 25 years since Nigel Kennedy’s landmark first recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons? 1989: when Baroque music adopted commercial pop’s mass marketing techniques, selling over two million copies (with a place in the Guinness Book of Records for all-time best-selling classical work) and making the young chap with lightning fingers and sticking-up hair a media sensation.

The ever-eccentric Nigel Kennedy entered on stage in trainers, combat trousers, a pirate shirt with a shiny black jacket, and his staple punk hairstyle. Dressed as a rebel, his cheeky-chap persona grabbed the attention of the audience at Colston Hall for a night of Bach and Fats Waller in one.The set was different to that of most normal concerts.

A brave choice of programme this Wednesday matched the personality of the leather-clad Nigel Kennedy. This included a new self-penned composition, The Four Elements and a unique interpretation – drastically different from Kennedy’s interpretation in the late eighties – of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

Last week’s Birmingham disaster exposed the difficulty Nigel Kennedy has created for himself. He appeared on stage half an hour late, to jeers and slow-clapping from his audience. Rock musicians frequently make late appearances – Hendrix once played a day and a half late at Woodstock – but classical musicians begin promptly.