Emil Młynarski; Mieczysław Karłowicz - Polish Spirit (Nigel Kennedy)

Information

Composer: Emil Młynarski; Mieczysław Karłowicz; Frédéric Chopin

• Młynarski - Violin Concerto No. 2 in D major, Op. 16
• Karłowicz - Violin Concerto in A major, Op. 8
• Chopin - Nocturnes Op. 9 Nos. 1 & 2 (arr. Krzesimir Dębski)

Nigel Kennedy, violin

Polish Chamber Orchestra

Jacek Kaspszyk, conductor

Date: 2007

Label: EMI Classics

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Review

Nigel Kennedy is one of the most genuinely inspired artists of our age, and he has always remained so, despite periodic posturings and some ropy stylistic experimentation. He brings gorgeously expressive tone, instinctive insight and now maturity – compare Joshua Bell – that penetrates below the surface allure to what a composer’s notes and textures really indicate. He remains, without any doubt, one of the all-time greats: given his additional bite, some might even aver him the Heifetz of his era.

Heifetz would have relished this repertoire. Emil Mlynarski (1870–1935) was one of last century’s supreme conductors, the intimate of Rubinstein, Szymanowski and Karlowicz, whose Violin Concerto is now recognised as one of the most lyrical outpourings of the genre.

A violin pupil of Leopold Auer, Mlynarski was no dabbler in composition. To his forceful concerto Kennedy brings a marked tenderness without any saccharine succulence. He is positively gleaming in the opening Allegro’s impassioned cadenza, and in the nocturnal Andante’s exploratory questionings, where the famed Polish orchestra under the admirable Jacek Kaspszyk beautifully matches Kennedy’s sensitive gradations of dynamic: the soloist’s harmonic-tinged second half is mesmerising.

Performances of Karlowicz’s youthful concerto are slowly blossoming on disc (including one on Hyperion); but the playing of the central Romanza is unlikely to find a nobler, purer exponent than Kennedy in this masterly reading – or a soloist who brings greater rhythmic assurance to Karlowicz’s beautiful long line. The finale is brilliant from start to finish, as Kennedy’s passion for this music simply pours out. The first Chopin nocturne is utterly magical, the second charming. EMI’s sound is to die for.

— Roderic Dunnett

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Emil Młynarski (18 July 1870 – 5 April 1935) was a Polish violinist, conductor, composer and pedagogue. Trained at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under Leopold Auer, Anatoly Lyadov and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, he initially enjoyed success as a violin virtuoso before focusing on teaching and conducting. He served as musical director of the Warsaw Grand Theatre and became the first director of the Warsaw Philharmonic. Młynarski later worked extensively in Britain, Russia, Poland and the United States. His compositions include two violin concertos, the Polonia Symphony, chamber works, songs and operas.

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Mieczysław Karłowicz (11 December 1876 – 8 February 1909) was a Polish late-Romantic composer and conductor. He studied violin and composition in Warsaw and Berlin, later studying conducting with Arthur Nikisch. His music reflects the influence of Tchaikovsky and Wagner while demonstrating a distinctive harmonic language and exceptional orchestral color. His major works include the Symphony "Rebirth", Violin Concerto and six tone poems. He also composed songs and chamber works. Karłowicz spent his later years in Zakopane and died tragically at age 32 in a skiing avalanche in the Tatra Mountains.

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Nigel Kennedy (born 28 December 1956) is an English violinist and violist. A child prodigy, he became a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music at the age of 7, and later studied at the Juilliard School in New York City with Dorothy DeLay. He made his recording debut in 1984 with Elgar's Violin Concerto (under Vernon Handley). His subsequent recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1989 sold over two million copies and earned a place as one of the best-selling of all classical recordings. Since 1992, Kennedy has expanded into jazz, klezmer, and other music genres.

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