Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 6

Midori has yet to celebrate her 40th birthday, but has been performing in public at the highest level for over 30 years. This remarkable recording was made when she was just 13 years old, and has been one of the benchmark versions of this concerto ever since.

Paganini’s First Concerto is given in its complete version, and is the most popular of his six violin concertos, displaying not only his extraordinary virtuosity, but also his great gift for melody.

‘A splendid new version of Paganini’s Violin Concerto in D, the most famous, because of the enticing lyrical theme of the first movement. Midori, an astonishingly accomplished 13-year-old, is fully equal to the work’s formidable technical demands and one is never made to feel uncomfortable when she is dealing with the pyrotechnics of the upper tessitura … Midori offers good performances of two Tchaikovsky morceaux de concert, producing some ravishingly melancholy timbre in the Sérénade mélancolique.’ Gramophone, AUGUST 1998

Recording made in 1987

Booklet notes

Virtuoso violinist Ingolf Turban has gained critical acclaim for his recordings of Paganini’s works gained, especially his March 2006 performance with the New York Philharmonic and his complete recording of the six violin concertos and in the TV documentary ‘Paganinis Geheimnis“

In his career he has produced over 30 albums, drawing on repertoire from a wide variety of sources. His much celebrated premiere performances have gained world wide acclaim and are now recognized as standard concert works.

Even though he is doesn't really rank among the "mythical" conductors of the Twentieth century, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt remains a conductor to be rediscovered. The present set contains only previously unissued recordings and is a perfect example of his conducting. He conducts the NWDR Sinfonieorchester that he created right after the war, on request by the British occupational forces (the first very concert with this orchestra was given on November 1 1945). Next to Haydn, the set contains a very "symphonic" performance of Pachelbel's canon which is at many years' distance from the more modern baroque versions, a Paganini concerto with the great French virtuoso Christian Ferras and a very beautiful Bruckner Ninth.

On this hybrid SACD the highly regarded Dutch soloist Rudolf Koeman plays Paganini’s first two Violin Concertos with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jan Willem de Vriend. In order to reflect the virtuosic and operatic style of the concertos, the disc also includes an overture by Rossini entitled “Matilda di Shabran”.

The combination of Paganini’s first two Violin Concertos and a Rossini operatic overture “Matilde di Shabran” points to Paganini’s style of composing. The individual movements are in many ways similar to virtuosic or lyrical opera arias where the solo violin replaces the human voice. Also, like Rossini, Paganini uses a high degree of ornamentation to enhance the expressive quality of music.

Rudolf Koelman was born in Amsterdam in 1959. In 1972 he began an extensive study of the violin under Herman Krebbers at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, and from 1978 to 1981 he was one of Jascha Heifetz’s last pupils at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Until 1999 he was leader of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam.