Paganini: Violin Concertos | Niccolo Paganini, Charles Dutoit, ...

Paganini: Violin Concertos | Niccolo Paganini, Charles Dutoit, ... | Exemplary Performances!

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Paganini: Violin C...

	Paganini: Violin Concertos Niccolo Paganini, Charles Dutoit, ... Deutsche Grammophon, 1993 average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Absolutely breathtaking performances of Paganini Concertos

I have listened to this record innumerable times and still have as much fun as the first time.
If I have to review each performance indivudually I would rate the 5th concerto the best of the performances. It is simply the jewel of this 3-disc set.
1st concerto: Great performance but possible to find even better performances since this is (if I'm not terribly wrong) the most recorded Paganini concerto. I have watched Sarah Chang with Zubin Mehta perform the first movement of this piece and that was a bit better than this one.
2nd Concerto : One of the most known concertos. Liszt even composed an etude on this one which is called La Campanella, same name with the concerto. I have first listened to the 3rd movement from Menuhin and I still find that performance to be the best ever recorded.
3rd, 4th and 6th concertos: These are again great, I especially like 3 and 4. Don't get me wrong 6 is another great record.
5th concerto: As I have said the jewel of this collection. It is destined to be the jewel of every music collection containing this performance. The playful touch of the bow on the strings is amazing. Sometimes that touch becomes more tender almost pleading. And at the end it literally dances on the strings then gives way to one of the most beautiful endings of all concertos in history.

There's no way you can go wrong with this one. If you have listened to the 24 caprices and want to listen some more Paganini this is the way to go. Also recommended is Accardo plays Paganini (DG again) which contains these performances along with some other works.

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Exemplary Performances!

Nicolo Paganini is primarily a virtuoso composer who did not compose anything other than for the violin in the early 19th century. He was a true prodigy of the instrument whose ferocious and innovative style of playing frightened many of the credulent folk into thinking he was the devil. With the increasing popularity of the waltz, he along with other romantics such as Beethoven completely revolutionized the concept of violin concertos that were still then mostly in the antiquated Roccoco menuet formulas of Mozart and Haydn.

Salvatore Accardo is an accomplished violinist who performed many times with the most reputable groups such as I Musici di Roma and the English Chamber Orchestra. He was a long-time mentor of Anne-Sofie Mutter who performed with Karajan. Despite working often with various Baroque styles, Salvatore Accardo is primarily a specialist at Paganini and the Italian Romantic period and this is the main reason this recording is one of the best you can obtain for Paganini. Charles Dutoit is also an accomplished orchestral conductor and generally works very well with Rossini whose light romantic style in his operatic overtures have overlaps with the style in Paganini's contemporary symphonic arrangements for his violin concerti. Acardo and Dutoit were therefore a perfect match in performing Paganini and this ablum is a great example along with their other collaborations for the composer available on single CD. The music is light and joyful in its interpretation while many others tend to be heavy and sluggish. Accardo's performance is filled with vitality as he has complete mastery over the instrument and feels at ease in his performance without ever faltering. His performance brings out the fluidity and full range of Paganini's style very well. Salvatore Accardo's solo performance of the caprices is also one should put on their must-have list of Paganini virtuoso performances without question: they are divine.

This album is a great buy where you can get all of Paganini's passionate violin concerti at a good price. There are really few if any performances equal to this one on the market other than those of Perlman perhaps but most are simply beneath it in every way and amateurish in comparison.

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Salvatore Accardo in one of his best achievements ever made!

During the middle seventies, this album was a true revelation. In fact, the entire set of these Violin Concertos simply had not been released. The fortunate combination with Charles Dutoit, The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Salvatore Accardo as soloist, allowed the audiences to appreciate and enjoy these works, with that special character; they are not deep pieces, are in the great tradition of Liszt, fireworks for the instrument.

The Second, Fifth and Sixth Concertos are the best achievements among the rest. About the first Concerto, Leonid Kogan, the second finds in Micahel Rabin and Ivry Gitlis notable performers, and the fourth Artur Grumiaux.

But if you really want to get the whole set with additional minor works, this is a very recommended choice.

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Excellent Performance