A Paganini Performance of Merit
Niccolò Paganini was a masochist. If I had the ability to play his grueling 24 Caprices, I still wouldn’t do it. But in this wild world, there are some that welcome the challenge. One of these noble few is violinist Jason De Pue, a first-section violinist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, who played the entire set during a two-hour solo program May 3.
We previewed De Pue’s feat in a News and Notes article in the July issue of Strings, but this week I received a recording of his performance at St. Rita’s Church in Philadelphia, and it’s no less than exciting. When De Pue gets warm, he successfully combines the technical finesse and emotional depth needed to make these caprices an adventure for the audience rather than just a sweaty exercise for the violinist.
The popular showpieces, Caprices Nos. 5 and 24, are performed with a confidence that comes from a lifetime of practice (De Pue began studying the caprices when he was 12 years old). But it was the Sixth Caprice that sold me on De Pue’s musicality. The haunting colors he elicits from the 1690 Giovanni Tononi violin stay with you long after the bow’s last breath.
If you have a hotshot video of yourself playing Pagaini’s Caprices, post it to All Things Strings Community here. Want to learn more about playing Paganini’s works? Check out this Strings magazine article.
We previewed De Pue’s feat in a News and Notes article in the July issue of Strings, but this week I received a recording of his performance at St. Rita’s Church in Philadelphia, and it’s no less than exciting. When De Pue gets warm, he successfully combines the technical finesse and emotional depth needed to make these caprices an adventure for the audience rather than just a sweaty exercise for the violinist.
The popular showpieces, Caprices Nos. 5 and 24, are performed with a confidence that comes from a lifetime of practice (De Pue began studying the caprices when he was 12 years old). But it was the Sixth Caprice that sold me on De Pue’s musicality. The haunting colors he elicits from the 1690 Giovanni Tononi violin stay with you long after the bow’s last breath.
If you have a hotshot video of yourself playing Pagaini’s Caprices, post it to All Things Strings Community here. Want to learn more about playing Paganini’s works? Check out this Strings magazine article.
Tags: caprices, de, giovanni, jason, niccolò, orchestra, paganini, philadelphia, pue, tononi
Comment
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Comment by Rory Williams on June 18, 2009 at 3:46pm - Hey, Paul. Jason and Zack are brothers, part of family of great fiddlers, composers, and professors. Check them out here: http://www.thedepuebrothers.com/bios.html
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Comment by Paul E. Roby on June 18, 2009 at 3:36pm - If this is Zack De Pue who was in the Philadelphia Orchestra, he is now concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony.
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Comment by Rory Williams on June 8, 2009 at 9:38am
- Thanks for your comments! I've sent a request to Jason to post his video and I'm just waiting to hear back from him.
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Comment by Jay Beaune on June 7, 2009 at 5:41am - Will you be posting the video?
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Comment by Juan Manuel Gonzalez de Cosio on May 29, 2009 at 6:16am - Another one of these noble few violinists is Alexander Markov who also played the 24 caprices in one single concert in Italy. There is a wonderful DVD of this performance where you will appreciate with utmost detail the execution of these extremely difficult masterpieces. If I had the ability to play the 24 caprices, I would certainly do it ! Why not ? However, if playing them means to me a long session of torture, then I wouldn't do it. I think this is more a matter of how relatively easy (or difficult) is for a violinist to play the caprices and not so much whether or not he/she can play them.
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