Janos Gereben wrote:

>Unless you read about it, you'd never know that this was Kennedy's fourth
>Brahms in as many days, and probably one of many during his career.  There
>was nothing routine, rote, bored or boring about it -- this was a premiere,
>a debut performance.  It was unsettling, exciting, memorable.  To do that
>with a 120-year-old piece of music after rehearsals and three performances
>since Thursday takes a rare kind of genius.

Thank you Janos for this wonderful review.

I've always been a Kennedy fan, despite his antics.  I still believe
that when one can push all his personal idiosyncracies out of the way,
and realize he's one terrific player.  Given all the recordings of the
Tchaikovsky and Sibelius Violin Concerto, I still have give my nod to
Kennedy's versions of these standard pieces.

Despite some bad reviews, I'm afraid I must admit that I've always loved
his Brahms recording.  Especially the first movement, taken much slower
than most others, still gives me the shivers.  He really puts so much
spaciousness into it all.

At least now I might know what to expect, he'll be performing here next
week, playing the Elgar.  It looks like I might have a backstage pass in
the works, but despite that, I've got 3rd row seats, so perhaps I should
take hint from his San Francisco performance and wear a hard hat to the
concert.

Milan Gowin
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http://www.ualberta.ca/~mgowin/