# Paganini Violin Concerto #1: Another Look



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

The Paganini Violin Concerto #1 is relatively underrated in the general discussion of great violin concertos. This is partly due to the less sophisticated orchestration compared to concertos such as the Beethoven and Brahms, but is unfortunate given that what is written for the violin is astounding.

Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840) composed his first violin concerto in 1817-18 for the orchestra in E-flat-major and the violin in D-major, but with the violin tuned a semitone high so that it sounded in E-flat-major (known as 'scordatura'), which allowed for some 'special effects' and a sense, at some points, that the violin was louder or more 'present' against the orchestra.

However, Paganini, in his earlier years was very guarded about his music which was composed for his own use, even to the extent of collecting the scores from the orchestra after each performance. Thus, the concerto, in later years, ended up being played with various openings and interpretations of the score. Particularly, a D-major version was transposed by an unknown source later in the 18th century and D-major is played in almost all recordings (with, again, variations of the opening) played in modern times.

I have been familiar with the Paganini concertos and Caprices since an early age and collected several versions of them. I was inspired to recently revisit the concerto #1 on hearing the Ivry Gitlis version (1966). It is the first time that I have heard an interpretation that sounds to me as being close to what Paganini himself would have played. It is a high-wire act from beginning to end. Gitlis lives on the E-string (the high one); he attacks it with wanton bravura and the tone way up high there is spot on. There is no heavy vibrato and the tone in the lower registers is not lush. The violin part is played as if it is one of the Caprices, of which Gitlis was a specialist. If nothing else, listen to the Sauret cadenza at 13:10. Amazing stuff!






One of the unfortunate things about a number of the earlier recordings is the short shrift given the opening which is limited to only a little over one minute (such as in the Gitlis above). Often, this means that the melodic 2nd theme is not introduced at all. This is hard to explain given that the opening is a little over 3 minutes in the original manuscript. Perhaps this was due to time limitations with vinyl records.

Speaking of the original manuscript, the following is the first recording (Quarta conductor and violinist) using it and the E-flat-major key. And Quarta uses one of the original Paganini violins. This a perfectly serviceable recording, note perfect, but with the heavy vibrato of romantic violin concertos which is unlikely the way Paganini intended:






Just for some added interest, here is an example of why young Asians are breathing new life into classical music:


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Ivry Gitlis is one of the greatest violinists few know about so it is not unusual you would be swayed by his interpretation. He also did a wonderful version of the Berg concerto that was once on a Vox France LP with Berg's Chamber Concerto where he played the violin.

As it regards the Paganini, Fritz Kreisler rewrote a single movement version of the concerto while on a ship traveling Europe to America. The only recording of it I know was from Alfredo Campoli last seen on an old London STS LP. Like so many great recordings in history it never came back digitally -- until a whole slew of Campoli's recordings were released on CD a year of so ago.


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