Nigel Kennedy: Five Classic Albums

"Astonishingly, in the case of the first two movements at least, this release, recorded during the week following a live concert at Birmingham's Symphony Hall in July 1997, fully re-creates the heady excitement of that memorable event. From every conceivable point of view - authority, panache, intelligence, intuitive poetry, tonal beauty and emotional maturity' (The Gramophone on the Elgar)

"These are exceptionally strong and positive performances, vividly recorded. When it comes to the two main works, Kennedy readily holds his own against all comers. His view of the Mendelssohn has a positive, masculine quality established at the very start. He may at first seem a little fierce, but fantasy goes with firm control, and the transition into the second subject on a descending arpeggio (marked tranquillo) is radiantly beautiful, the more affecting by contrast with the power of what has gone before." (Gramophone on the Mendelssohn & Bruch)