Clesh: Paganini caprice 5

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Paganini caprice 5
5 minutes, 37 seconds long
Published 28 December, 2009
Keywords: Jack Glatzer
[Music] The 5th caprice shows us how Paganini breaks the bounds of classical violin playing in several ways. It begins with great passages, showing the entire range of the violin of Paganini in practically the lowest note on the G string we go up a mere three octaves in arpeggios and then descending in a rather torrential scale. Then each time the arpeggios reach a little bit higher until the fourth time we reach the highest note, highest practical note that is of the violin, a high A, four octaves over the first note. This is an area which we violinist like to call the 'Area of Eternal Rasson'. A high searing piercing note that had hardly even been imagined before, not to speak of being heard by audiences. This is part of the Promethean side of Paganini that he wasn't content to stop where others had stopped, and he explored the violin to such a degree that the fingerboard had to be made longer during his lifetime. There's a very beautiful remark by a critic called A. B. Marx who speaks of Paganini originality and I think it's worth quoting this. 'This was not violin playing, this was not music, it was witchcraft and yet still it was music, only not the kind to which we are accustomed.'. The second section, agitato (agitated) is a wild demonic witches dance. It's so fast the fingers don't really have time to press down the strings but they only touch very lightly and then off they go so another finger can come down. And then the bow corresponds with this in simply playing very fast ricochets, constantly bouncing. [Music] A demonic quality is felt throughout this work. Goethe described the experience of Paganini 'I only heard something meteoric and then couldn't account for it.'. And this little section is like a meteor, it seems to come from nothing and goes away in a flash.  [Music]