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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | In the South: Brodsky Quartet
The Brodsky Quartet here turns to the sunshine, bright colours, and deep-set passions of the South, performing Latin-inspired music for string quartet by composers who all possessed a strong connection to the ‘South’, whether it was the Mediterranean or South America. Paganini’s Capricci Nos 6 and 24 need no introduction. They are among the most published and reviewed virtuoso pieces ever composed, and have been frequently arranged over the last two hundred years, with each new reading allowing us to discover Paganini’s art afresh. This version has been arranged by the violinist Paul Cassidy, a long-standing member of the Brodsky Quartet. We have the chance to hear chamber works by two further Italian composers, who would always be known primarily for their massive achievements in opera. In fact, the sad melodies of Puccini’s Crisantemi would later be used in the tragic fourth act of the opera Manon Lescaut. The Quartetto in E minor was the only string quartet Verdi ever wrote, and he himself insisted on presenting it as a mere trifle, stating that it was composed ‘in idle moments’ before the premiere of Aida. This Quartet divided opinion. Whereas some reviewers recognised the technical difficulties of the work, others thought Verdi’s Italian temperament inappropriate to instrumental music. The inspiration to La oración del torero (The Toreador’s Prayer) came to Turina during a Spanish bullfight, during which he watched as a bullfighter received the prayerful Sacrament of Holy Unction, while all around a feverish excitement over the forthcoming fight was overtaking the crowd. The work itself displays elements of French impressionism, combined with strong evocations from the Spanish bullfighting arena. Four, for Tango, written in 1988 for the Kronos Quartet, is a prime example of Piazzolla’s own style of ‘Nuevo Tango’; this new form of tango became popular around the world, and was generated from combining Argentine folklore with so-called ‘art music’. Also on this disc is Hugo Wolf’s ‘Italian’ Serenade, a work equally full of captivating rhythms, harmonic warmth, and dancing themes. “These six works are by composers not associated with string quartets. The mood is Italianate, but not exclusively so...Paul Cassidy, has arranged – winningly – two solo violin Caprices by Paganini for quartet, here in a premiere recording...Verdi's Quartetto has a lyrical if operatic simplicity and energy. All evoke pleasurable heat and light.” The Observer, 24th March 2013 “Not unexpectedly, the performances by the Brodsky Quartet are full of spontaneously imaginative insights and equal to all the diverse demands of these six composers.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2013 “[in the Turina] vibrant Iberian colours make an unalloyed delight of the Brodsky's playing...[Rowland] leads a performance [of the Verdi] that stings with the shock of extreme dynamic contrasts and thrills with moments of rhythmic exactness...this is a very refreshing collection.” International Record Review, May 2013 | 
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| |  | Piano accompaniment added by Robert Schumann
Benjamin Schmid (violin), Lisa Smirnova (piano) Schumann was only the first in a long line of composers to feel the fascination of Paganini’s Caprices. Brahms, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Blacher and Lutoslawski all found inspiration in their thematic material. Violin virtuosos also have had nothing but praise for Paganini’s brilliant masterpieces. Menuhin has termed them “the violinist’s New Testament.” | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Paganini - Complete Caprices for violin
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James Ehnes revisits the most demanding work in the violin repertoire, and delivers an astonishing new interpretation, focusing on the lyrical rather than the pyrotechnics in the Caprices – though there is ample virtuosity on display here! These works have never been exceeded in the challenges they present for the performer, and as such are the ultimate studies for solo violin. Upon hearing Paganini play the Caprices for the first time, Liszt had serious doubts about his own abilities as a composer. In contrast, they inspired Schumann to abandon his chosen career as a writer, and take up composition. " a masterclass in how to transform virtuosic acrobatics into sensitive 'scenes' for the violin, each one telling its own little story." Salzburger Nachrichten after Salzburg Festival performance 2009 Insightful booklet essay by Ehnes on the composer and the music. “…Ehnes has returned to these coruscating 'finger-breakers' (as Ricci once described them), playing with the same glowing tonal finesse as before, but with a new lyrical intensity… Beguilingly played and expertly engineered, this deserves a place on anyone's shortlist of the Caprices.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2009 “Ehnes has recorded the Caprices before, in 1995, at the age of 19. Since then his view of the music hasn’t changed a great deal… There's the same daring, bold approach, relying on exceptional technique to deliver an inner vision of each piece… what has changed is that Ehnes's technique has got even better, the intonation more precise, the bow control more sensitive. And the new recording adds an extra degree of clarity so that the playing makes a more vivid impact. Even a solitary listener will feel the desire to applaud the Presto section of No 11, with its jaunty rhythms and extraordinary leaps, or the quick staccato scales at the end of No 21.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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One of today’s most versatile violinists presents a new account of Paganini’s Caprices – an unsurpassed compendium of technical difficulties – played as “improvised character pieces”. Zehetmair reveals extraordinary technical perfection coupled with uniquely imaginative insight and a sense of musical drama. Conductor, chamber musician, ardent pioneer of contemporary composition and an adventurous soloist, Thomas Zehetmair is certainly the most versatile artist among the performers of the Caprices by Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840), the set of 24 hair-raisingly difficult violin studies that established new standards of the instrument’s technical possibilities. Zehetmair’s overwhelming and critically acclaimed ECM recording of the Sonatas for unaccompanied violin by Ysaÿe, released in 2004, offered ample proof that alleged virtuoso pyrotechnics can be surprisingly multifaceted 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 from the early 90s quickly won benchmark status. In 2007 he went to the Austrian monastery of St. Gerold to record a second – even more ambitious – interpretation whose improvisational freedom conveys all the demonic and haunting aspects of the music. Both Zehetmair’s solo records and his quartet albums on ECM have met with unanimous praise in recent years – especially the Zehetmair Quartet’s Schumann disc which was Gramophone’s Record of the Year. “…a disc full of remarkable violin-playing and presents a powerful, individual view of the music.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2009 “Zehetmair employs an astonishing dynamic range, articulated by a glittering array of lifted and legato bow strokes that tickles both the ear and the imagination. …a white knuckle ride from beginning to end.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2009 **** | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Paganini’s 24 Caprices Op 1 were considered simply unplayable by most contemporary violinists, but the composer himself bestrode their difficulties with contemptuous ease. A forerunner and inspirer of his younger contemporaries Chopin, Liszt and Berlioz, Paganini was the archetype of the virtuoso performer. His technique was so phenomenal, and his saturnine presence so magnetic, that he was popularly believed to be in league with the Devil. He communicated a new vision of what the violin could achieve. Virtuoso violinists are plentiful these days, but the challenges posed by the Caprices are still daunting and it is a rare performer who can achieve such insouciant brilliance in this repertoire as the young German violinist Tanja Becker-Bender has in her debut recording for Hyperion. “Adopting generally slower speeds than Rogliano, she has time to turn the music more gracefully, articulate more cleanly, achieve remarkable purity of tuning, and use variations of tone-colour to open up the music's expressive potential. This results in a sparkling, cleaned-up version of Paganini, sounding the more amazing for its polish and clarity, and bringing into focus the poetic, romantic sensibility that enthralled the composer's contemporaries.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2009 “If anyone is ever likely to convince you that there is more to Paganini's music than Rossini-in-technical overdrive melodramatics, it is Tanja Becker-Bender. …Becker-Bender gives the Italian's coruscating roulades more room to breathe, characterising each caprice as though it was microcosmic masterpiece of musical expression. Hers may not be the most viscerally exciting version ever recorded, but it is certainly the most satisfying.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2009 **** “After nearly 200 years, the Paganini Caprices still present a formidable challenge to violinists. The character of the music may persuade them to adopt a bold, theatrical approach (without minding too much about small imperfections of tuning or passages of rough tone); others may prefer a more careful, considered attitude, striving for accuracy and beauty. Tanja Becker- Bender belongs to the second camp. For a few minutes you might wonder if she is missing something of the virtuoso thrill transmitted, but soon you'll be won over.
Adopting generally slower speeds, she has time to turn the music gracefully, articulate cleanly, achieve remarkable purity of tuning, and use variations of tone-colour to open up the music's expressive potential. This results in a sparkling, cleaned-up version of Paganini, sounding the more amazing for its polish and clarity, and bringing into focus the poetic, romantic sensibility that enthralled the composer's contemporaries.
Rarely have the flute and horn imitations in the Ninth Caprice been more persuasively performed, and in No 21, marked amoroso, Becker-Bender manages to retain a tender, intimate tone where many of her rivals equate amorousness with crude intensity. The more brilliant pieces are just as successful. Paganini himself would surely have been impressed and delighted.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Becker-Bender’s performance is noteworthy for the nonchalance with which she glosses over these difficulties with enough mental effort left over to convincingly hold the musical thought and line...She plays with intensity and maturity, is brilliant of tone in the higher registers, and full-bodiedly gutsy lower down. The performance is impressive on every level” Charlotte Gardner, bbc.co.uk, 27th March 2009 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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“…for a scintillating combination of edge-of-the-seat spontaneity and technical wizardry, Shlomo Mintz's 1981 traversal still reigns supreme. The way he throws himself into the paralysing descending and (even more perilous) ascending thirds of No. 1 with a devil-may-care nonchalance still inspires incredulous head-shaking at the sheer effrontery of it all, while the velocity and miraculous left-hand co-ordination of No. 5 becomes increasingly more astonishing each time I hear it.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2009 ***** | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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Sonig Tchakerian (violin) | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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The Record Academy Award “This electrifying music with its dare-devil virtuosity has long remained the pinnacle of violin technique, and the Caprices encapsulate the essence of the composer's style. For a long time it was considered virtually unthinkable that a violinist should be able to play the complete set; even in recent years only a handful have produced truly successful results. Itzhak Perlman has one strength in this music that's all-important, other than a sovereign technique – he's incapable of playing with an ugly tone. He has such variety in his bowing that the timbre of the instrument is never monotonous. The notes of the music are dispatched with a forthright confidence and fearless abandon. The frequent double- stopping passages hold no fear for him. Listen to the fire of No 5 in A minor and the way in which Perlman copes with the extremely difficult turns in No 14 in E flat; this is a master at work.
The set rounds off with the famous A minor Caprice, which inspired Liszt, Brahms and Rachmaninov, amongst others, to adapt it in various guises for the piano.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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