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<\/a>Nic\u00adcol\u00f2 Paganini\u2019s 24 Caprices for solo vio\u00adlin<\/em>, com\u00adpleted around 1817, are con\u00adsid\u00adered among the most dif\u00adfi\u00adcult things for a vio\u00adlin\u00adist to mas\u00adter, espe\u00adcially the strik\u00ading final caprice, in A minor. Apart from its sta\u00adtus as the ne plus ultra<\/em> show\u00adpiece to demon\u00adstrate a violinist\u2019s vir\u00adtu\u00ados\u00adity, it\u2019s a thump\u00ading good tune, extend\u00aded into vari\u00ada\u00adtions. Those vari\u00ada\u00adtions have fas\u00adci\u00adnated lat\u00ader com\u00adposers, and have gen\u00ader\u00adated a huge num\u00adber of rework\u00adings, and fresh vari\u00ada\u00adtions of their own device. Wikipedia lists works by 29 com\u00adposers based on the last caprice.<\/p>\nWhen Brahms pro\u00adduced his Vari\u00ada\u00adtions for Piano on a Theme from Pagani\u00adni<\/em>, Op.35<\/em>, both Liszt and Schu\u00admann had already worked on vir\u00adtu\u00adoso piano inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtions of Paganini\u2019s 24th. Brahms\u2019 piece is clos\u00ader to Schumann\u2019s. He divides the the work into into two seg\u00adments, Book I and Book II<\/span>, each begin\u00adning with the theme, and run\u00adning through vari\u00ada\u00adtions to a bravu\u00adra cli\u00admax. This makes the piece sound odd\u00adly repet\u00adi\u00adtive, since both sets are very sim\u00adi\u00adlar in orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion and style. Brahms, appar\u00adently, was exper\u00adi\u00adment\u00ading with play\u00ading tech\u00adnique, and I\u2019m told the piece is as dif\u00adfi\u00adcult for a pianist as the orig\u00adi\u00adnal is for a vio\u00adlin\u00adist. But as a non-play\u00ader, I\u2019m prob\u00ada\u00adbly miss\u00ading most of its tech\u00adni\u00adcal sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcance. I can see how\u00adever, that he squeezes every pos\u00adsi\u00adble emo\u00adtion that you can out of the lit\u00adtle melody, remind\u00ading you that few tunes have any fixed, inate emo\u00adtional con\u00adtent. I have per\u00adfor\u00admances by Wal\u00adter Rosen and Charles Klein. I play the Klein one quite often.<\/p>\n Karol Szymanowski\u2019s Three caprices about Pagani\u00adni themes for vio\u00adlin and piano<\/em> was com\u00adposed in 1918, rough\u00adly at the time of his love affair with the 15-year-old Russ\u00adian poet Boris Kochno, and the writ\u00ading of his erot\u00adic nov\u00adel Efe\u00adbos<\/em>. The three caprices (#20, 21 and 24), in Szymanowski\u2019s hands, are sweet\u00ader than Paganini\u2019s orig\u00adi\u00adnals\u2026 drip\u00adping with roman\u00adtic feel\u00ading. The A minor caprice takes Paganini\u2019s solo vio\u00adlin and gives it a plucky piano accom\u00adpa\u00adni\u00adment that bal\u00adances it well. The pizzi\u00adcato pas\u00adsage has par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlarly nice inter\u00adplay between the two instruments.<\/p>\n Sergei Rachmaninov\u2019s Rhap\u00adsody on a Theme of Pagani\u00adni in A Minor, Op.43<\/em> [\u0420\u0430\u043f\u0441\u043e\u0434\u0438\u044f \u043d\u0430 \u0442\u0435\u043c\u0443 \u041f\u0430\u0433\u0430\u043d\u0438\u043d\u0438\u0420\u0430\u043f\u0441\u043e\u0434\u0438\u044f \u043d\u0430 \u0442\u0435\u043c\u0443 \u041f\u0430\u0433\u0430\u043d\u0438\u043d\u0438<\/em>] is prob\u00ada\u00adbly more often played than the Paganini\u2019s orig\u00adi\u00adnal piece. It\u2019s a peren\u00adnial \u201cB\u2011side\u201d item, usu\u00adally thrown in with one of Rachmaninov\u2019s piano con\u00adcer\u00adtos. Often, it\u2019s paired with Ernst Dohnanyi\u2019s Vari\u00ada\u00adtions on a Nurs\u00adery Theme<\/em>, and that\u2019s how I first heard it. Julius Katchen\u2019s 1954 per\u00adfor\u00admance on Dec\u00adca \/ Lon\u00addon, which I own on the orig\u00adi\u00adnal \u201cheavy\u201d vinyl that weighs and feels like an old lac\u00adquer record\u00ading, is one such. I have oth\u00ader oth\u00ader per\u00adfor\u00admances: one in a box set of the con\u00adcer\u00adtos by Rafael Oroz\u00adco, one by Margrit Weber, and a sparkling one by Van Cliburn, but Katchen\u2019s remains my favourite. Rachmaninov\u2019s treat\u00adment of the caprice is in stan\u00addard vari\u00ada\u00adtion form, but he man\u00adages to make it feel like a piano con\u00adcerto, with sweep\u00ading orches\u00adtral pas\u00adsages, and dreamy inter\u00adplay between soloist and orches\u00adtra. It was first per\u00adformed in Bal\u00adti\u00admore, in 1934, with Rach\u00admani\u00adnov at the key\u00adboard. The heart of the piece is the love\u00adly, slow eigh\u00adteenth vari\u00ada\u00adtion, half-way through, which is a strik\u00ading \u201cupside down\u201d ver\u00adsion of the theme in D\u2011flat. This heart-throb\u00adbing melody was ripped off for pop\u00adu\u00adlar songs, and con\u00adstantly turned up in pas\u00adsion\u00adate romance movies from the 30s to the 50s. Rach\u00admani\u00adnov is said to have quipped: \u201cThis one is for my Agent.\u201d It may be a bit much for today\u2019s taste. But there are plen\u00adty of oth\u00ader enter\u00adtain\u00ading, stick-in-your-mem\u00ado\u00adry pas\u00adsages in the work. I\u2019ve always liked the abrupt, anti-cli\u00admac\u00adtic end\u00ading, com\u00ading after a dra\u00admatic buildup.<\/p>\n The under-rat\u00aded Pol\u00adish com\u00adposer Witold Lutos\u0142aws\u00adki pro\u00adduced yet anoth\u00ader solo piano take on the 24th caprice. Lutos\u0142aws\u00adki lived a rather hard life. A year after he was born, in 1913, his fam\u00adily fled to Rus\u00adsia to help orga\u00adnize Pol\u00adish resis\u00adtance to the Ger\u00adman occu\u00adpa\u00adtion, only to be trapped there by the Bol\u00adshe\u00advik rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion. At the age of five, his father and broth\u00ader were exe\u00adcuted by the Com\u00admu\u00adnists \u2015 by a fir\u00ading squad, a few days before their sched\u00aduled \u201ctri\u00adal\u201d. Return\u00ading to Poland short\u00adly after, he stud\u00adied math\u00ade\u00admat\u00adics and music. He was serv\u00ading in the Pol\u00adish armed forces as a radio tech\u00adni\u00adcian when the Com\u00admu\u00adnists and Nazis invad\u00aded and divid\u00aded Poland. He was cap\u00adtured by Ger\u00adman sol\u00addiers, but he escaped while being marched to prison camp, and walked 400 km back to War\u00adsaw. At the same time, his sur\u00adviv\u00ading broth\u00ader was cap\u00adtured by the Rus\u00adsians, and ulti\u00admately died in the Gulag. He spent the Nazi occu\u00adpa\u00adtion of War\u00adsaw com\u00adpos\u00ading and play\u00ading Resis\u00adtance songs in the under\u00adground caf\u00e9s that sprout\u00aded up when the Nazis banned the play\u00ading of Pol\u00adish music. It was here that he com\u00adposed the Vari\u00ada\u00adtions on a Theme of Pagani\u00adni<\/em>. It was one of only a hand\u00adful of his hun\u00addreds of ear\u00adly com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtions that sur\u00advive being incin\u00ader\u00adated dur\u00ading the War\u00adsaw Upris\u00ading. After the War, he strug\u00adgled for decades with Com\u00admu\u00adnist cen\u00adsor\u00adship. Many of his best works were sup\u00adpressed, and were only played out\u00adside of Poland. But he con\u00adtin\u00adued to build an inter\u00adna\u00adtional rep\u00adu\u00adta\u00adtion from sheer force of cre\u00adativ\u00adity and orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adity. Towards the end of his life, he became close\u00adly relat\u00aded with Sol\u00adi\u00addar\u00adity, and lived to see Poland\u2019s lib\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion. Con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ading the con\u00addi\u00adtions under which it was com\u00adposed, it\u2019s not sur\u00adpris\u00ading that the Vari\u00ada\u00adtions<\/em> are far from Rachmaninov\u2019s inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion. Actu\u00adally, they sound as if some\u00adone had been sched\u00aduled to play the Rach\u00admani\u00adnov rhap\u00adsody, assas\u00adsi\u00adnated the con\u00adduc\u00adtor and all the orches\u00adtra, then pro\u00adceeded to play a dement\u00aded, fre\u00adnetic par\u00adody of it, solo, under the influ\u00adence of phenyl\u00adcy\u00adclo\u00adhexylpiperi\u00addine. In 1977, Lutos\u0142aws\u00adki revised and expand\u00aded the com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtion into a piano con\u00adcerto, which I haven\u2019t heard.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nic\u00adcol\u00f2 Paganini\u2019s 24 Caprices for solo vio\u00adlin, com\u00adpleted around 1817, are con\u00adsid\u00adered among the most dif\u00adfi\u00adcult things for a vio\u00adlin\u00adist to mas\u00adter, espe\u00adcially the strik\u00ading final caprice, in A minor. Apart from its sta\u00adtus as the ne plus ultra showpiece \u2026<\/p>\n