Search - Niccolo Paganini :: Paganini: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 3

The King of Paganini no. 3

Car Boy | 02/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As you can see by my pen name, I am slightly biased towards Mr. Szeryng, but if you want/need a recording of Paganini 3, there is simply no other recording that will do.



Szeryng 'rediscovered' the piece, and wrote his own cadenza for it, which is a greater piece of composition than the concerto itself!



Effortless technique defined.



No. 1 is by far the best piece, and there are many good recordings (esp. Menuhin/Monteux)



Szeryng's performance of no. 1 on this disc is very good (not my favourite), but is overshadowed by the staggering no.3 which makes the disc essential buying anyway.



This is up there with his Lalo Symphony Espagnole which has (stupidly) been deleted."

Outstanding, virtually effortless, performances of Paganini

D. R. Schryer | Poquoson, VA United States | 10/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Paganini wrote his concertos and other works for the violin with the intention to make them too difficult for others to perform. He failed in this goal in that many modern violinists can play works by Paganini. But only a few violinists have the skills to play Paganini's compositions seemingly without effort. One such gifted violinist was Henryk Szeryng. If you acquire this CD and listen to Szeryng playing these two concertos Szeryng's awesome technique will allow you to enjoy the music for it's beauty and artistry with no concern for its technical difficulties. I think that even Paganini would be impressed by these seemingly effortless performances."