The Japanese violinist Keiko Yamaguchi plays on her debut solo album a selection of sonatas for violin and guitar from the “Centone di Sonate per Violino e Chitarra” of Niccolò Paganini.
Accompanied by guitarist Rosario Conte on a 19th C. romantic guitar, she gives Paganini’s music a special and intimate touch. This music was not intented to be performed on big stages but rather for private amusement and relaxation. As Rosario Conte puts in in the liner notes: “It is Paganini’s chamber music which shows us his glowing, enthusiastic, and yet humble soul. It relates to us the close relationship between folk music and the Italian belcanto tradition, and it tells us of the tiny world into which Paganini was born, of his city, Genoa, with its narrow streets and alleys branching out between the mountains and the sea.“
