there's a lot of classical ppl who look down their noses at Paganini and this has informed my hearing of him for most of my life, but over the past couple years I've often had the following thoughts -- first, isn't it odd that several composers I like found Paganini's work intriguing enough to write variations on it, and, second, isn't it the case that I just adore the ridiculous heavy metal players whose work is very audibly in the same neighborhood as Paganini -- Jeff Loomis, Jason Becker, even Yngwie who of course hasn't actually made a good record since very early on but was pretty interesting before he lost the plot? It is. I love that stuff warts and all, so I've been giving Paganini a closer look.
He's good! He sort of isn't shooting for "gravity" or "depth" I guess -- though when others take on his themes (Brahms, Rachmaninov, Liszt) they seem to want to bring/add a little weight. Finding stuff beyond the Caprices takes work, that's the repertory as arjun reports above -- but I have this curiosity about him, as a figure in relation to the people who listened to him or were interested enough in him to play his work.
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Sunday, 30 May 2021 20:58 (four years ago)