Beethoven, Mozart: C+

Beethoven, Mozart: C+

12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, May 3, 2008

Lawson Taitte

Beethoven, Mozart

C+Violin Concertos. Polish Radio Chamber Symphony, Kennedy (EMI)

GOOD WEIRD: We've had lots of very individualistic, not to say eccentric, versions of the Beethoven Violin Concerto lately, but Nigel Kennedy's new one is one of the most extreme. He changes tempos with every shift of mood, and his highly detailed phrasing borders on the fussy. The slow movement sometimes gets so languorous as to be off-putting. This isn't one of my favorite recordings of the masterpiece, but it consistently holds the attention.

BAD WEIRD: Mr. Kennedy's choices in the Mozart Concerto No. 3, however, are downright off-putting. Perhaps anticipating the CD's encore, a jazz piece by Horace Silver called Creepin' In, Mr. Kennedy inserts a cadenza into the first movement that has nothing to do with Mozart and everything to do with self-indulgence.

BOTTOM LINE: The Mozart isn't quite bad enough to become one of those party records you laugh and groan at, but the Beethoven might interest the curious.

Lawson Taitte

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Performing Arts

12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, May 3, 2008