Nigel Kennedy is all Bark, Sounds like Cinderella

Appearances can be deceiving. When DJ B selected Nigel Kennedy's "Greatest Hits" CD from the public library, I was a bit skeptical about the music just based on the cover photo. The picture turned me off, as it looked like somebody working really hard to say "I'm radical!" Of course, I hoped that he really was radical, as I'm a fan of string music and was sort of intrigued to hear if this was a collection of deconstructed violin sounds.

Miss B's response to this was quite telling, as she paid considerable attention to the artwork, but had little response to the classical violin music. As we turned the music on, she was very interested in the CD booklet and kept pointing at pictures, asking, "Is that him? Is that him with paint on?" She scrutinized each page of the liner notes and got very upset when I tried to take them from her, saying, "Hey! This is my mat! [her term for CD booklet]"

I had to prompt Miss B in order to get any sort of reaction to the music. When I asked her what the music sounded like, she said, "Cinderella...like a princess." I probed further, asking her what the music was good for and she said, "Cinderella." I asked if it was dancing music, and she replied, "Yes. It's Cinderella dancing music." When I asked if it was sleeping music, she also said, "Yes. With Cinderella. Night night time." From that point on she kept referring to this album as "Cinderella music" and she told me that liked it.

As it turns out, the CD wasn't as radical as one would expect, with its violin solos of compositions from classical greats like Vivaldi, Debussy, and Bach. For Miss B, that was just fine, as the Nigel Kennedy album was sort of a blank slate, on to which she could superimpose her current princess passion.