PAGANINI / Ricci - "Caprices 1-24" - London 1963 early pressing

"It is perhaps sadly ironic that the works directly inspired by the last of Niccolò Paganini's prodigiously difficult 24 Caprices for solo violin (ca. 1817) have overshadowed their source and indeed, the whole of this hugely influential set of technical exercises. But unquestionably, it is the demonic theme of Caprice No. 24, which provided the impetus for composers as diverse as Brahms, Rachmaninov, Lutoslawski, and Lloyd-Webber to use the theme as the basis for their own variation works, which has become Paganini's musical epitaph. This sinister, angular theme conjures up in our minds the gaunt, white face of the violinist whom many thought was in league with Lucifer himself more palpably than any other!

Paganini's music has often been slighted for its lack of profundity; he was, after all, a superstar violinist first and a composer second. Among violinists, however, mastery of the Caprices, Op. 1, represents the summit of technical attainment, and beside the solo violin works of Bach, and perhaps the much later solo sonatas by Ysaÿe, this set stands as one of the greatest volumes of music ever devised for a solo string instrument.

The 24 Caprices for solo violin encompass every imaginable aspect of violin technique, and in many cases, for example in their use of complex multiple stopping, fast passagework, and imaginative bowing permutations, very few, if indeed any other violinist contemporary with Paganini himself could have actually played them! Some of the more spectacular violin pyrotechnics include the combination of bowing and pizzicato (plucking), a full exploration of the use of harmonics, double-stopped trills, and recourse to widely spaced chords based on Paganini's remarkable ability to stretch vast distances across the fingerboard." - AMG.

The record is Exc--.
The jacket is Good.
The LP plays/sounds Mint.

Astonishing performance and sound! Ricci's Violin sounds as if it is being played right in front of you. Extremely high level of detail and micro-detail (you can hear the resin as the bow is pulled across the strings). Tonality is superb and imaging is rock-solid.
Surface noise consists mainly of low-level 'crackles/ticks' which are random and do not interfere with the Music.

Each record is washed on a VPI cleaning machine using a proprietary 3-5 agent process which is determined by the needs of the individual record. Each record is then listened to 100% to insure that the posted description is exactly what you can expect to get

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