Jill Kemp - Recorders

Jill Kemp is an exciting player from Yorkshire who has appeared on television in the semi-finals of the BBC Young Musician of the Year and on Classic FM in Audi Junior Musician. She studies with Michala Petri and Piers Adams.

Spanning the period from Vivaldi to the present day, Jill thrilled the audience with the mastery of her instruments and a formidable technique, assisted by the sympathetic and supportive playing of Keith Swallow.

The recorder playing (treble and descant) had a sweet and full sound in the slower movements of the Vivaldi, Bach and Handel sonatas, particularly on long notes which require intonation of the highest standard. This was well contrasted in the allegro and presto movements where articulation was almost faultless with excellent control of wide interval leaps and impulsion carried to the final bars.

The Krähmer Introduction and Variations Brillantes was played with admirable restraint over the opening long notes and the following bravura technique ensured that the piece was well executed with good balance.

Several of the works in the modem idiom required effects such as flutter tonguing and singing down the recorder which Jill accomplished with authority, demonstrating the potential of the recorder for contrast in colourful, dynamic and expressive playing.

The audience applauded warmly, conveying their enthusiastic reception of the whole concert, It was generally agreed that we have in Jill Kemp a musician of depth, true to her art and able to captivate her listeners. Hers is a name to look for well into the future.

Edna Coop, The Recorder Magazine