Paganini Marathon ~ Deal with the Devil ~
Cygnus Arioso celebrates the iconic rockstar violinist Niccolò Paganini in this relay performance of his defining work, the complete 24 Caprices.
Paganini composed these solos to showcase his own fiery virtuosity in performance, an they continue to challenge modern-day violinist over 200 years on.
Rarely heard as a full set, this performance offers both a broad snapshot of Paganini’s style and a celebration of the violin itself in the hands of some of Perth’s finest exponents.
Players
Ryan Lee
Arwen Ooi
Lisa Smith
Lisa Smith
Audrey Jarvis
Shannon Rhodes
Yasmin Omran
Aaron Dungey (Viola)
Ellie Malonzo
Jason Chong
Karen Matoba
Akiko Miyazawa
Ben Caulfield
Monica Rallabhandi
Siobhan Makinson
Karen Matoba
Shannon Rhodes
Yasmin Omran
Mia Thomas
Louise Sandercock
Riley Skevington
Momo Foord
Akiko Miyazawa
John Keene (Double Bass)
Details
No. 1 : E major Andante, Nicknamed "The Arpeggio", this composition matches chordal playing with ricochet across all 4 strings. The piece opens in E major and then quickly transitions into an E minor development section, where descending scales in thirds are introduced.
No. 2 : B minor Moderato. The second caprice focuses on detache with many string crossings across non-adjacent strings.
No. 3 : E minor Sostenuto/Presto/Sostenuto. Caprice No. 3 is a slurred legato exercise with octave trills in the introduction and conclusion.
No. 4 : C minor Maestoso Caprice No. 4 is an exercise featuring passages with many multiple stops in thirds.
No. 5 : A minor Agitato. Caprice No. 5 focuses on fast ricochet bowings. It begins and ends with a section of ascending arpeggios followed by descending scales.
No. 6 : G minor Lento, Nicknamed "The Trill", the sixth caprice exploits the use of left-hand tremolo on the violin by quickly alternating between different notes in the chord in one of the voices. A melody is played in one line with a tremolo occurring on another.
No, 7 : A minor Posato. This caprice focuses on slurred staccato passages, featuring many long slurred scales and arpeggios.
No. 8 : E-flat major Maestoso. Caprice No. 8 focuses on sustaining a lower note while playing a higher melody at the same time, meanwhile incorporating many trills and double stops.
No. 9 : E major Allegretto, Nicknamed "La Chasse" or "The Hunt", the violin's A and E strings imitate the flutes ("Sulla tastiera imitando il Flauto"), while the G and D strings imitate the horns ("imitando il Corno sulla D e G corda"). Primarily a study in double stops, with ricochet occurring in the middle section.
No. 10 : G minor Vivace. This caprice is primarily a study in up-bow staccato, with staccato notes punctuated by chords, trills and distant string crossings.
No. 11 : C major Andante/Presto/Andante. The eleventh caprice starts and ends with sections that require multiple voices, containing a passage that consists of many dotted notes rapidly jumping up and down the scale.
No. 12 : A-flat major Allegro. This caprice consists of a slurred pattern of a melody on an upper string alternating with a drone note on a bottom string, forcing the violinist to stretch great distances while keeping a finger on the drone string.
No.13 : B-flat major Allegro, Nicknamed "The Devil's Laughter", Caprice No. 13 starts out with scale-like double-stopped passages at a moderate speed. The second part consists of high speed runs that exercise left hand flexibility and position shifting, and right hand high speed string changing and detache bowing. The piece then repeats back to the beginning and ends right before reaching the second part for the second time.
No.14 : E-flat major Moderato. The 14th caprice displays the violin's ability to voice chords. It contains many triple and quadruple stops. Stylistically, the piece imitates brass fanfares.
No. 15 : E minor Posato Caprice 15 is in ABA form. The "A" section is in E minor and starts with a melody in octaves followed by a variation in 32nd notes. The "B" section is in G major (the relative major to E minor) and features upbow staccato and singly-bowed arpeggios.
No. 16 : G minor Presto. Caprice No. 16 is perhaps the simplest of the caprices. The chief difficulties are string crossings and some broken tenths. The only chord is the final note.
No. 17 : E-flat major Sostenuto/Andante. The "A" section contains numerous thirty-second note runs on the A and E strings that converse back and forth with double stops on the lower two strings. The middle section is famous for the incredibly difficult octave passage.
No. 18 : C major Corrente/Allegro. The introduction to caprice 18 demonstrates playing on the G string in very high positions. This is followed by a rapid display of scales in thirds.
No. 19 : E-flat major Lento/Allegro assai. After 4 measures of octaves marked Lento, the rest of the caprice is in ABA form marked Allegro assai. The "A" section consists of playful staccato 8th notes, and the "B" section consists of fast 16th notes played on the G string. The opening 4 measures and the "A" section are in E-flat major, and the "B" section is in the relative minor (G minor).
No. 20 : D major Allegretto Caprice. 20 is famous for the use of the D string as a drone, backdropping a lyrical melody on the A and E strings, imitating a bagpipe. This is followed by a rapid sixteenth note passage with trills and flying staccato.
No. 21 : A major Amoroso/Presto. Caprice 21 begins with a very expressive, aria-like melody played in double-stopped sixths. This is followed by a section of rapid up-bow staccato.
No. 22 : F major Marcato. Caprice 22 explores many types of double and triple stops with louré bowing, then implementing various elements of slurred staccato, slurred tremolos and strings crossings.
No. 23 : E-flat major Posato/Minore/Posato. Caprice No. 23 begins with a melody in octaves in E♭. The middle, contrasting section is a formidable exercise in string crossings: it requires the violinist to play patterns of three sixteenth notes on the G string and then cross quickly to play one on the E string, and then back to the G string, all at a quick tempo.
No. 24 : A minor Tema: Quasi presto/variazioni I–XI/Finale. The theme from Caprice No. 24 is well known; it has been used as the basis for many pieces by a wide variety of composers. This caprice uses a wide range of highly advanced techniques such as tremendously fast scales and arpeggios, double and triple stops, left hand pizzicato, parallel octaves and tenths, rapid shifting, and string crossings.
About Super Skills…
Double Stop : In music, a double stop is the technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a stringed instrument such as a violin, a viola, a cello, or a double bass.
Detaché : Detaché is a playing technique on violin and other string instruments that calls for broad but separate bow strokes. In printed sheet music, the notes simply are not slurred. Sonically, detaché achieves a median balance between the fluid legato technique and jaunty staccato technique.
Ricochet : Jeté - Also known as "ricochet" bowing, this consists of "throwing" the bow on the string in the upper third of the bow on a down bow, so that it bounces and produces a series of rapid notes. Usually from two to six notes are sounded this way, but up to ten or eleven can be played.
String Crossing : This is the repeated alternation of notes played on two or more strings, where one of the notes is usually an open string. This string crossing is often rapid, and is best executed with a sinuous movement of the bow arm.
Octaves : An octave is a musical interval. An octave is defined both in terms of music and in terms of physics: In terms of music, an octave is the distance between one note (like C#) and the next note bearing its same name (the next C# that's either higher or lower).
Slurred Staccato : A Slurred Staccato of two or more notes means playing the notes in the same bowing direction, but with space in between each note. These notes can be played firmly on the string or allowed to come off the string with a little action.
Up-bow Staccato : An up-bow staccato is a violin bowing technique that consists of a few staccato notes – short, separate, each with a clear “bite”. All the notes are played on one stroke starting near the bow tip and finishing near the frog.
Tenths : A tenth is an interval between notes. Generally when we refer to a tenth on the board it's been in the setting of a double stop where you would be required to block for instance a B on the A string and then D on the E string at the same time. The thing that makes them hard is that they are an awkward stretch and are straining on the hand when you have not properly worked up your left hand technique.
Multiple Stopping : Playing more than two, and up to four, notes at the same time. Two notes is called double stopping. Three notes is triple stopping. Four notes is quadruple stopping.
Louré Bowing : In the louré bow stroke, the notes are all played in the same bow direction, similar to up-bow or down-bow staccato, but there is no separation between the notes. The notes are connected but 'pulsed'; each note receives some weight and emphasis. For each note, the bow sinks into the string.
Left hand pizzicato : “Left-hand pizzicato” refers to plucking the strings with any finger from the left hand. At the same time, this hand is also supporting the instrument and stopping the pitches on the strings.
