Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 6 - download (MP3 & FLAC)

“Ilya Kaler is a Russian virtuoso, a pupil of Leonid Kogan. He's a first-rate fiddler and an excellent musician. Paganini's once fiendish pyrotechnics hold no terrors for him, not even the whistling harmonics, and how nicely he can turn an Italianate lyrical phrase, as in the secondary theme of the first movement of the First Concerto.
Then he can set off with panache into a flying staccato, bouncing his bow neatly on the strings when articulating the delicious spiccato finales of both works. Stephen Gunzenhauser launches into the opening movements with plenty of energy and aplomb and is a sympathetic accompanist throughout. How nicely the violins shape the lyrical ritornello introducing the first movement of the Second, and there's some sensitive horn playing in the Adagio.
Kaler's intonation is above suspicion and he's naturally balanced: there's none of the scratchiness that can ruin your pleasure in Paganinian pyrotechnics. With excellent notes, this is a superior product at super-bargain price. The recordings were made in the Concert Hall of Polish Radio in Katowice. It has an ideal ambience for this music: nicely warm, not clouded.
Great value on all counts.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“We hear the [Paganini] Concerto not as the patchwork of showy tricks and memorable tunes it often seems, but as a well crafted, unified work.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2008

“There have been a number of fine accounts of Paganini's First Concerto down the years… Hilary Hahn plays the score complete and with such effortless command that the listener might be fooled into thinking that it really isn’t all that difficult… in Spohr's A minor Concerto... her exquisite shaping of Spohr's melodies and technical nonchalance pay special dividends. ...this is easily the finest version of this once-popular work to have emerged since Zukerman's long-deleted account of the early 1970s...” BBC Music Magazine, November 2006 ****

“After nearly 200 years Paganini still poses considerable challenges but Hilary Hahn's superior technique surmounts them easily, the highest and fastest passages accomplished with clarity, excellent intonation and no compromise on tonal quality. The notorious double-harmonics episode in the finale sounds are wonderully secure and beautiful.
And Hahn's musicianship is of a high order; we hear the Concerto not as the patchwork of showy tricks and memorable tunes it often seems, but as a well crafted, unified work. Other violinists may have produced performances with more edge-ofthe- seat excitement but few have excelled Hahn for finesse. Rather than striving to present the soloist as a heroic figure, she's content, with sympathetic orchestral support, to let us hear the concerto as a beautiful, enthralling piece.
In the Spohr, Hahn plays the recitative sections with splendid, bold expressiveness, and in the brilliant final movement shows a winning combination of strength, delicacy and lyricism.
Her very slow speed in the first aria, though, doesn't work: the music appears to stand still, with a complete change of mood for the contrasting episode. It's an outstanding disc, however, and can only enhance Hahn's reputation.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“After nearly 200 years Paganini still poses considerable challenges but Hilary Hahn's superior technique surmounts them easily… And Hahn's musicianship is of a high order; we hear the Concerto not as the patchwork of showy tricks and memorable tunes it often seems, but as a well crafted, unified work. In the Spohr, Hahn plays the recitative sections with splendid, bold expressiveness, and in the brilliant final movement shows a winning combination of strength, delicacy and lyricism. But I'd take issue with her very slow speed in the first aria. It's an outstanding disc, however, and can only enhance Hahn's reputation.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006

“Ilya Gringolts is an outstanding young Russian violinist; with this Paganini programme he began his recording career at the deep end. He's able to surmount the ferocious technical demands, and has, too, a notably rich, beautiful, unforced tone.
In the unaccompanied Nel cor più non mi sento Variations, he seems rather careful – missing the passionate directness that some bring to this piece. But Gringolts's more expansive and delicate account is equally valid, the theme, with its freely expressive ornamentation, especially appealing. The other shorter items work well, too, in particular the elegant Cantabile – originally for violin and guitar. Only La campanella is a bit disappointing: one feels the need for a more vigorous approach, and despite the finesse of the playing it's difficult not to regret the absence of the orchestra.
The First Concerto benefits from a truly outstanding accompaniment, performed (and recorded) with a wonderful sense of space and balance.
Even the bass drum and cymbal parts are played with sensitivity – what can sound like a crudely overloaded score emerges here full of colour and grandeur. With such fine orchestral sonority, one might wonder what the concerto would sound like in its original key. Paganini played it in E flat, by tuning his strings a semitone higher, and wrote the orchestral parts in the higher key; his aim was to produce a more brilliant, penetrating sound. Present- day soloists, understandably, prefer the standard tuning for such a demanding work.
Gringolts plays with sweetness or brilliance as required, though perhaps the first movement didn't need so many extreme tempo changes and perhaps the Adagio should have had a more dramatic tone, to match the darkly romantic orchestration. But the finale is terrific, with all the verve and high spirits you could want.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010