NICCOLO PAGANINI

- Violin Concerto No. 4
- Sonata Varsavia

GIDON KREMER, violin
WIENER PHILHARMONIKER
conducted by RICCARDO MUTI

CD 446 718-2 DDD
PHILIPS

- Paganini jealously guarded his compositions, refusing publication and always careful to collect parts after a performance for fear that someone might copy them and discover som of his trade secrets. Many of his works were therefore believed to be lost.

- Composed for one of his concerts in Berlin, the Sonata Varsavia (only the original violin part survived) is a set of variations on a mazurka by the Polish composer, Józef Elsner. The Fourth Concerto, premièred during his French tour of 1831, was considered to be lost for many years until its rediscovery in the 1950s.

- After a performance of these works in Vienna, Die Presse wrote:"I've never before heard any of Paganini's violin concertos played in such a beautiful, fascinating and lively way..."