Sueye Park - Paganini: 24 Caprices (2017) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Niccolò Paganini is possibly the only figure in the field of classical music whose name has become a household word, equivalent with an almost supernatural excellence in any kind of human endeavour: from soccer to stock market analysis or haute cuisine. In a similar way, the last of his 24 Caprices has entered popular culture in a way that few other classical pieces have, its theme reused by musicians as diverse as Benny Goodman, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Yngwie Malmsteen.

But there is more to Paganini and his set of Caprices than the one theme, however catchy it may be. Above all, there is of course the virtuosity: throughout the collection, Paganini employs the full palette of violin technique and whereas most volumes of violin studies focus on one aspect of technique at a time, he combines them in ingenious ways. Many of the techniques he uses were of unprecedented difficulty in his own time – ricochet bowing over four strings, octave trills, endless chains of double-stops, left-hand pizzicato and artificial harmonics. But the caprices also display an unusual musical imagination and sensibility – a combination of Rossinian lightness and the sudden mood swings of the early Romantics.

Born in 2000, the young Korean violinist Sueye Park has studied in Berlin since 2009. Her first encounter with Paganini was at the age of 11, when she performed the composer’s First Violin Concerto at the Komische Oper in Berlin, and she now makes her début on disc with this challenging programme.

Tracklist:
01. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 1 in E Major
02. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 2 in B Minor
03. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 3 in E Minor
04. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 4 in C Minor
05. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 5 in A Minor
06. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 6 in G Minor
07. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 7 in A Minor
08. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 8 in E-Flat Major
09. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 9 in E Major
10. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 10 in G Minor
11. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 11 in C Major
12. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 12 in A-Flat Major
13. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 13 in B-Flat Major
14. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 14 in E-Flat Major
15. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 15 in E Minor
16. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 16 in G Minor
17. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 17 in E-Flat Major
18. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 18 in C Major
19. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 19 in E-Flat Major
20. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 20 in D Major
21. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 21 in A Major
22. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 22 in F Major
23. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 23 in E-Flat Major
24. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25: No. 24 in A Minor