Kid Yugi Paganini

Nicolò Paganini’s Quartets for Strings and Guitar are among his finest chamber compositions. The First Guitar Quartet was a wedding gift from Paganini to his younger sister; and both this and the Second Quartet share neo-classical poise with warmly expressive romantic lyricism. The Ninth Quartet features sweet and melancholy moods containing some of Paganini’s most disarmingly simple melodies, and as the composer himself stated, ‘a very fanciful minuet and a moving trio’.

“I have heard an angel sing,” wrote Schubert after he heard Paganini play in Vienna in 1828. Vilde Frang, partnered by pianist Michael Lifits, juxtaposes and links works by these two violinist-composers, who lived vastly different lives, yet are musically connected. Both found inspiration in the human voice and Frang sheds new light on Schubert’s demands for virtuosity and on Paganini’s sensitive musicality.

Niccolò Paganini’s Quartets for Strings and Guitar offer some of the best examples of his inexhaustible creativity, including ideas and themes that were later included in his more famous concertos. The Seventh Quartet combines mastery of form with endless melodic inventiveness, while the Fourteenth is more virtuosic, allowing its dedicatee to shine as a violinist with splendid effectiveness. The dark colour of the viola gives unique timbre to the Fifteenth Quartet which, with its moments of operatic expressiveness, is outstanding in Paganini’s chamber music output. Volume 1 of this edition (CDS7912) was considered “first-rate” in every regard by the American Record Guide.

Many Paganini scholars consider the quartets with guitar to be among his finest chamber works. The care Paganini took in their composition is documented in numerous letters asking the opinion of his friend Luigi Germi, to whom Quartet No. 10 is dedicated. The Quartets, Op. 4 and Op. 5 with their almost playful eccentricities and freedoms show the composer trying out a variety of forms and variations on convention, all with his typically virtuoso and lyrical touch. Volume 2 of this edition (CDS7938) was admired for its ‘crisp and elegant sensibility’ in BBC Music Magazine.

The conventional view of Niccolò Paganini's 24 Caprices puts them among the encores and etudes violinists use to hone their skills and show off their prowess. But Julia Fischer regards them primarily as expressive works that are as rich in lyricism and emotional color as they are in advanced techniques, and her 2010 Decca album shows her considered approach to the music. There's no doubt about Fischer's impressive abilities, which are apparent from hearing the first Caprice, and all the trickiest double- and triple-stops, bowing styles, and various means of articulation that are included in this fantastic work reveal her phenomenal gifts. But as amazing as Fischer's performance is for sheer technique, it is highly pleasurable because of her polished musicality and firm control of every nuance that is either overt or suggested in the music. The notoriously difficult Caprice No. 6, which Fischer plays con sordino, has a special ghostly quality that makes it much more ethereal and Romantic in character than an exercise in playing trills. Even the ever-popular Caprice No. 9, and that favorite of composers of variations, the Caprice No. 24, have a freshness and vitality that come directly from Fischer's genuine feelings, not merely her dazzling skills. Decca's sound is crisp and clean, so the full range of the violin's timbres and dynamics come through without studio boosting. Highly recommended.

Dynamic, the independent Italian record label, based close to Paganini’s birthplace in Genoa, has compiled this ten disc set of their previously issued Paganini recordings. It seems that several of these recordings were receiving their first recording. Although this box includes the complete edition of Paganini’s fifteen quartets for strings and guitar; the three string quartets and a number of other chamber works there is certainly much of Paganini’s chamber music not included here.

Thomas Zehetmair’s manually overwhelming and thought-provoking ECM recording of the complete sonatas for unaccompanied violin by Eugène Ysaÿe – released in 2004 to great critical acclaim – offered ample proof that alleged virtuoso pyrotechnics can be surprinsingly multi-faceted and complex when approached by a musician with a rare awareness of stylistic layers and expressive traditions. His (long deleted) Teldec version of the Capricci dating from the early nineties quickly won the status of a new benchmark recording.

The violinist releases the results of a uniquely ambitious "lockdown project" – a barnstorming new account of Paganini's fiendish Caprices, recorded in the late spring of 2020.
The transcendental heroics of Paganini’s Caprices have presented the ultimate test for generations of violinists; Alina Ibragimova’s accounts of this most exclusive repertoire join a select few of the most celebrated.

Noted for his exquisite, beautiful playing and a technical wizardry, Accardo is most associated with Paganini. DG are proud to present these legendary Paganini in a deluxe 6CD + Blu-ray Audio package remastered from the original sources. These incredible virtuoso solo violin works are heard in astounding detail in this new 96kHz/24-bit remastering. Accardo's instrument is a Stradivarius dating from 1717.

Paganini composed 6 numbered concertos; the 6th of 1815 actually pre-dates No.1, which appeared in 1817. The Second concerto became one of his most famous works, and one he performed most frequently. The famous finale known as ‘la Campanella’ became an instant hit from the premiere in Naples in 1827. Later that year Pope Leo XII created Paganini a Knight of the Golden Spur, and his international stardom continued.