Locatelli: Capricci for Solo Violin

Ruhadze, Igor

94774

The virtuosic, gloriously indulgent music of Pietro Antonio Locatelli has long been passed over in favour of later composers, such as the master of flamboyant showiness Niccolò Paganini (whose 24 Caprices were inspired by these works). Eighty years before Paganini, however, came these capricci (or capriccios), long soloistic passages for solo violin that were originally written as cadences within movements of violin concertos. But Locatelli’s knack for this style proved so popular that the works easily stand alone; indeed, some of the capriccios are so long that they actually exceed the length of the movement they originate from! Locatelli would write out the beginning of the capriccio, leaving the player to improvise the final cadenza, and Igor Ruhadze has followed that pattern here, improvising cadences to bridge between all 24 capriccios and as the final tuttis of the concerto movements to which they belong. Even Locatelli’s notated section still leaves plenty of room for interpretation; he would simply write the notes in a block chord, leaving the player to pick this apart in whatever style he wished. The writing is rapid, technically demanding and stratospherically high, making huge demands on the performer and providing a treat for the listener in search of a compelling alternative to Paganini.

CD

13.11.2019

5028421947747