Nigel Kennedy. If you’re a classical music fan, you’ll know the name, and you’ll know how much of a brat he is. It’s not unrelated to my story about Vivaldi in Venetia.
The backstory… While in Venetia, we saw a concert. What’s more Venetian than Vivaldi? In a thousand year old church? In Venice? Not much.
There are in fact three or four nightly concerts in Venecia, mostly featuring Vivaldi. We had planned on catching one (they’re 27 euro per person, and oddly, all venues peg the same price, the music mafia at work!). But on our first night out and about town, we stumbled upon an offering at the Scuola de San Teodoro.
My motto in such cases is always “one in the hand over two in the bush”, so we took advantage.
The school (and the church) are named after me, so it seemed fortuitous.
There is something magical about Vivaldi. I’ve heard concerts back home in Calgary, here in Venetia, and also in Vienna. We’ve introduced Elliotte to Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery (thanks to Susan Hammond’s Classical Kids) so this was a big treat for her.
The concert was OK (merely). The audience was typically, Europeanly stuffy. I couldn’t explain about the intensity of the summer storm to Elliotte, for example, without disapproving glances. The very worst of what classical music culture has to offer, frankly. I’m going to fricken explain that the summer movement ain’t no “fun in the sun, bikini clad picnic” to my daughter if I damned well want to. Dammit!
In a a somewhat hushed voice, of course. 😉
There were issues with the performance as well, but hey!, 27 Euros doesn’t buy you the CPO playing Carmina Burana, you know.
The setting was stunning, though, and with the performers dressed up in period costumes and wigs, the feeling of the performance was unspurpassed. Sure, it’s only a four hundred year old performance hall, but it was so typically Italian nonetheless. Lead violin was suitably pretentious, so it was a fun experience, overall.
Which brings us back to Nigel Kennedy. Back in the 90s, I bought his interpretation of The Four Seasons. Of course it was an accidental choice, and of course; I didn’t know a thing about his pseudo Cockney accent or his bad boy personna, although I’m sure I would have loved it even more had I).*
Here’s a sample:
If you listened to the whole thing, then great. If not, cue up to the 4:40 mark and listen to what Kennedy has to say at 5:04:
That’s what’s so great about Vivaldi, he actually went like this… … and it’s so nice.
And that’s what’s so great about Nigel Kennedy. You stuffy classical music lovers can go bite me now. 😉
*Not to worry, my musical snobby friends… I also have Marriner’s Academy of Ancient Music version of the Quattro Stagionne, as well.