Noticed that I have not keyed the title as there are some interesting angle as it can be in either D major or a combination of D major for the soloist and E flat for the orchestra as originally envisioned by Paganini. He originally wrote the orchestra score in E flat major and the soloist part in D major but have the soloist tune his violin half a semitone higher to match with the orchestra. Paganini did not state the reason for doing so but contemporary opinions being either he felt that E flat major being more appropriate tonality wise or because the soloist part is more easily executed in the key of D major. Almost all modern interpretations are done on D major for both the solo violinist and the orchestra.
With the violin being one of the instruments Paganini plays, it is therefore not a surprise that this piece was written with quite a fair emphasis on the solo violinist especially in the first and last movements. The total time for the piece is about 36 minutes with the middle movement occupying only about 5 plus minutes and the longest first movement of about 21 plus minutes. To attain a fuller enjoyment, I would recommend both listening and watching it as the solo violin portions contain a good dose of showmanship ( meaning in both gender ) like double stops in which the solo violinist have to bow on 2 strings simultaneously and portions of the piece that takes the soloists to almost the end of the upper register of the scale for violin and quick alternating notes between the first and last string of the violin.
I have always loved the lower middle registers of the violin where at the hands of a good violiniss and a good violon makes for a very unique tonality which I can only describe as very tunefully close to the human voice. Some like this portion to be played with vibrato but I beg to differ as I love the more ancient playing style with less or no vibrato. This is also one of my reason for preferring Hanh's rendition with less vibrato.
The piece promises lots of cadenza where the soloist is at their own devices with the orchestra silent. Having said that, this is certainly not a sonata disguised as a concerto but the more tuneful blending between the orchestra and the soloist is more prevalent in the brass and woodwind portions with a good dose of accentuation from the percussion group. The string section is mostly deployed in a more harmonic support manner in my opinion.
As this is my first writing on Paganini, it would be good to note that like most warm blooded Italian being more southernly geographically, his life is not short on excitement and uniqueness especially on the romantic front as he was ever quoted saying he is not handsome but when women hear him play, they would come crawling to his feet. Gambling was also one of his many favorite vices. Later in life, he even attempted to make money out of his gambling habit by opening a casino but it lead to financial ruin for him personally and he had to wind it up. The juiciest rumor is about his alleged pact with the devil to grant him special musical talent in exchange for something sinister. It does not help that when asked about it, he was quoted at replying how else could he be so good musically. I am of the opinion that this is most probably an egotistical and mischievous reply not to be taken seriously as he has quite a flamboyant and sanguine character. This alleged rumor could also be one of the reasons why his body was denied a timely decent Catholic burial until a few decades later.
Before penning off, some of the other more noted renditions of this work you might want to listen to besides my favorite by Hahn/Oue/Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra are:
1.Accardo/Dutoit/London Philharmonic
2.Grumiaux/Bellugi/National Orchestra de la Opera Monte Carlo
3.Perlman/Foster/Royal Philharmonic
4.Rabin/Gossens/Philharmonia Orchestra
5.Menuhin/Monteux/Orchestra National de Paris
Happy reading, listening and watching hopefully in that order.
Cheers,,,,, Pete aka lkypeter
Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye