Track Listing

1. No. 1, Allegro
2. No. 2, Tres vif
3. No. 3, Lent
4. No. 4, Vif
5. 1. Allegro Serioso, Non Troppo
6. 2. Adagio - Andante
7. 3. Maestoso E Largamente, Ma Non Troppo Lento - Presto

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #167091 in Music
• Released on: 2000-05-09
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
The thing with the artist formerly known as Nigel is that his audience never knows what he might do next, and that, we must assume, is the way Kennedy likes it. This release of duos for violin and cello presents music that conventionally wouldn't be found on a single disc, the concise notes stating that the Bach and Handel pieces represent the "very antithesis" of the "linear approach" of Kodály and Ravel. This contrast-and-compare approach offers effective insight into possibly unfamiliar music, a diversity closer to a concert program than a regular CD. Ravel's Sonata for violin and cello is far removed from the composer's lush orchestral sound, a stark anticipation of Bartók's Third Piano Concerto. Kodály's Duo provides warmth, strongly infused with the folk tradition of the composer's native Hungary. Cellist Lynn Harrell clearly has an affinity for such music. (He's simultaneously released a recording of Miklós Rózsa's Cello Concerto.) The Baroque-derived works are much shorter, the Bach being a new transcription of the Two-Part Invention No. 6, the Handel Passacaglia a hybrid adapted by the Norwegian conductor Johan Halvorsen from the Harpsichord Suite No.7. With superb sound and intensely focused playing, this imaginative program offers highly committed music-making. --Gary S. Dalkin

Customer Reviews

Looking for Intensity? Go Here.
This is a 57-minute collaboration of inspired string playing by two extraordinary musicians playing at the top of their games. Lynn Harrell shreds his normally buttoned-down approach and matches Kennedy's boiling bow bar for bar in this time-space voyage from French fantasy, to baroque repetition with variation, to Hungarian folk, and back to Bach. In the opening sonata duo, the pair move seamlessly from cool and lyrical to spitfire hot and back in a take-no-prisoners interpretation of Ravel at his bizarre best. The two transport their intensity back 200 years in Halvorsen's adaptation of Handel's minor key harpsicord passacaglia. They then pass from passacaglia to Bartok's gypsy passion, taking it to the limit and beyond. Harrell and Kennedy go from seething to soothing in closing with Bach's sweet E major two-part invention. What a ride!

Who says classical music is boring?

Not quite what I expected but very good.
I got this CD as a "package" along with a baroque CD I was quite familiar with. I have always been partial to the cello, and thought this sounded like a great buy, which it is. I like it..but I have to keep listening to it. Becuase it is only cello and violin, some of the compositions remind me of scores from psychological thrillers or horror movies, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just, a bit heavy. The musicians are amazing however, so it makes this purchase worthwile. Perhaps I just need a bit more maturity for this.

It's sweet
This CD reminds me of summer camp . . . we played many of these tunes for fun. It would be wonderful to hear Mr. Harrell play Cole Porter with another cellist. That would be prima!