This was recorded with the Irish Chamber Orchestra in St. Mary's Church in Dingle, Ireland, and was a truly memorable experience. Nigel Kennedy is an incredibly generous and totally natural musician and it was really inspiring to have the opportunity to play a five concert tour with him of the Bach concerto. I learned a lot from his energy and focus and total commitment to music-making on and off the stage. To let you in on a little secret, at the concert we didn't actually play the 3rd movement this fast! This was an encore, and on the spur of the moment, Nigel thought it would be fun to play it extremely fast. This is the version that ended up in the EMI Classics DVD final edit and which resulted in much consternation on YouTube! Watch from 15:40
This recorded performance with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra was for a programme called The Mozart Sessions broadcast on Irish TV.
I commissioned Irish composer Ian Wilson to write a piece for oboe/oboe d'amore and my favourite string group, the Dutch Ensemble Caméléon. The result was a 15 minute work called Eyeless Upon a dark River and this is a live recording of the premiere performance.