Paganini: Caprice for solo violin, Op. 1 No. 24 in A minor

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.

Jascha Heifetz has been described as the ‘greatest twentieth-century exponent of his instrument’ (Gramophone). Critics admired his technical agility and the myriad nuances of his playing, qualities that made him one of the most iconic violinists of his era. This set includes a selection of concertos and sonatas that showcase Heifetz’s versatility and his extraordinary ability to capture the particular character of each piece in his repertoire.

This new album by Sergei Nakariakov, recorded in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Dahlem, south-west Berlin, in August 2010 by the same team that made most of his Teldec recordings, is dedicated to his late mentor, the great Russian trumpeter, Timofei Dokshizer.

Spectacular virtuoso trumpet works are featured alongside smoother works on the flugel horn.

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.”

An artist of rare versatility, Angèle Dubeau has had a dazzling career in the great concert halls of the world. With a string of some 30 recordings, many concerts with renowned orchestras and as the conductor of her own ensemble, her talent, passion and musicality have won her uncommon acclaim. This collection includes virtuoso works by Paganini, Mendelssohn, Sarasate, Prokofiev and Sibelius.

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.

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.