Nigel Kennedy's Greatest Hits (2002)

CD1
1. Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - Spring - Allegro 		
2. Massenet - Meditation 		
3. Satie - Gymnopedie 		                 play
4. Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending 		
5. Debussy - The Girl With The Flaxen Hair 		
6. Bach - Sonata For Solo Violin In C - IV: Allegro Assai 		
7. Kreisler - Praeludium And Allegro 		
8. Bach - Es Ist Genug, So Nimm, O Herr      play		
9. Traditional - Danny Boy 		
10. Traditional - Scarborough Fair 		
11. Kennedy - Melody In The Wind 		
12. Monti - Csardas 		
13. Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - Summer - III: Presto

CD2
1. Violin Concerto in E minor : Allegro molto appassionato- Mendelssohn
2. Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor : Adagio - Bruch
3. Violin Concerto in B minor : Andante - Elgar
4. Violin Concerto in D : Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace - Brahms
5. Concerto for Two Violins in D minor: Largo ma non tanto - Bach
6. Violin Concerto in D : Canzonetta - Tchaikovsky
7. Violin Concerto in D minor : Allegro, ma non tanto - Sibelius
8. Violin Concerto in D : Rondo (Allegro) – Beethoven

English Chamber Orchestra
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Simon Rattle, Jeffrey Tate, Vernon Handley, Klaus Tennstedt – conductor

One of the first musicians to "crossover" from classical music, Nigel Kennedy continues to blur the boundaries with the release of his Greatest Hits album, a title which is normally the preserve of pop artists.

As a whole, the album is essentially a sampler for Kennedy's substantial EMI back catalogue and celebrates his 18-year career with the label. Disc one is filled with sweeteners, such as Massenet's "Méditation", Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending and a couple of movements from his record-breaking recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, while disc two contains one movement each from eight of Kennedy's concerto recordings, namely the Mendelssohn, Bruch, Elgar, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Beethoven as well as the Bach double. Perhaps these tasters will encourage new listeners to fork out for the complete recordings.

There is no sign of Kennedy's experiments with the music of The Doors and Jimi Hendrix (which will be a relief to many) but there are a few little gems to be found. A vigorous and very breathy new recording of the fourth movement of the Bach solo sonata in C demands repeated listening while the slightly wayward performance of Monti's showstopping Csárdás with Polish klezmer band Kroke provides a taster of Kennedy's next disc. --Rebecca Agnew

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