E.F.: Here he comes. Aha! Here he comes with a baby! (applause and laughter)

N.K.: He doesn’t want to leave me at the moment. It’s a bit early in the morning. (Remember the time difference)

E.F.: That’s all right.

N.K.: Sorry about this.

E.F.: That’s all right. No, not at all.

N.K.: (whispers, presumably to Sark) Thank you.

E. F.: So now I’m joined by the violinist Kennedy and his son Sark

N.K.: Yeah, man. Sark’s here.

E.F.: Great to have you back in Toronto.

N.K.: Good to see you, man. The last time we met was in Minneapolis.

E.F.: Was in Minneapolis. Right. And I still called you Nige — Nigel at that time.

N.K.: I know. He’s a cheeky devil, this fella,isn’t he? (laughter)

E.F.: What do I call you now?

N.K.: I wouldn’t like to say it on air ! (laughter) Well, you don’t know me well enough anyway. (more laughter)

E.F.: I read that you dropped the Nigel because you didn’t like the name. Was it just that simple ?

N.K.: Yeah, pretty much that I didn’t like the name but also, there’s, like, one or two members of the British press — only one or two because most of them are reasonable, but one or two are quite uptight and I knew it would get on their wick. (laughter)

E.F.: It’s wonderful to have you back here again playing again — it’s been five years, I think, since you went back on the road on the classical circuit. Why did you come back ?

N.K.: Yeah, I missed, like, playing with, you know, sixty or seventy people on stage, that kind of collective, you know, feel. Is that something going on on stage now or is that background music?

E.F.: I think that’s background music.

N.K.: Background music, yeah.

E.F.: I think they’re playing one of your CDs

N.K.: Maybe that’s why I left classical music, it’s because it’s always on in elevators so I knew I could find it there. (laughter) Yeah, maybe that collective feel of sixty or seventy people on stage can’t be matched

E.F.: Wonderful to hear you play Brahms — there’s such a sense of urgency to it. You — there’s a driven quality to the way you play it.

N.K.: You know, with Brahms I think there’s a line which is evident — you know, it’s good music. Same with Bach, like, there’s a line of development which has got to be apparent when you’re playing it because it’s apparent in the writing of the music.

E.F.: So you don’t like to linger. You like to —

N.K.: Well, I mean, you know, there’s moments for that, you know, the intimacy and there’s moments for the bigger framework and I think these composers normally embrace both. That’s what makes them remembered, like, two or three hundred years after in some cases, you know.

E.F.: Well, you’ve said that it’s important to play every time you play as if it were the last time you were playing.

N.K.: Well, I think that it’s important to remember that the last time — (an announcement begins on the P.A. system) — we can hear the second half is in, like,about five minutes time ! No, but, like, you know,every performance should be like the last one because if it feels like just another one what’s the point in being there?

E.F.: Exactly.

N.K.: I think it’s, you know, complacency and music don’t really go very well together. You know, it’s the same as in sport — you know, if you see a complacent sportsman you think why have I paid this money to go to this match. You know,you don’t want to see people like that. You know, we’re lucky to be doing what we’re doing so let’s put our heart and soul into it.

E.F.: That’s why it’s great to have you back!

N.K.: Hey,man.

E.F.: Kennedy.

(prolonged applause)

O.K., everyone. I hope my next report will be of my conversation with Nigel after the Vancouver concert — I have managed to arrange to get to that one !!