Paganini: Caprice for solo violin, Op. 1 No. 13 in B flat major

“Distinguished, passionate and virtuoso playing from a great viola player” BBC Music Magazine, April 2012 *****

“…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

“…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 ****

“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

“…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 *****

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