Guitarist Tariq Harb plays Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Capriccio Diabolico "Omaggio a Paganini", Op.85.
One of my absolute favourite pieces in the repertoire is this majestic caprice and homage by Tedesco. Composed in 1935, Castelnuovo-Tedesco dedicated it to the Spanish master Andrés Segovia. Segovia commissioned the work as a tribute to the romantic virtuoso Niccolò Paganini. Castelnuovo-Tedesco did not try to reproduce the style of Paganini in the piece but rather gave shape to a 'pastiche musical' where the element of technical virtuosity is one of the protagonists. The dedicatee made heavy revisions on the composition (including the addition of a beautiful quote at the very end from Paganini's 'La Campanella') and premiered it including these revisions which, despite the strong association that linked the two personalities, did not please the composer [1], and this led to a brief cooling of their relationship [2]. Nevertheless, this performance largely showcases Segovia's edition which was republished in 1967 by Ricordi.

The original version of the composition with a revision entirely based on the original manuscript was also republished in 2001 by Bèrben.

To better understand Niccolò Paganini's musical effect on both the public and his contemporaries in his time, I invite you to watch this very interesting Christopher Nupen documentary entitled "Paganini's Daemon, A Most Enduring Legend": [ Ссылка ]

Please enjoy! :)

Audio and video: Drew Henderson
Guitar: John H. Dick
Strings: Savarez CR 540

[1] Andrés Segovia, letter to Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco from 1959.
[2] Le opere per chitarra di Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: [ Ссылка ].

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Tariq Harb is a Professor of Guitar at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada: [ Ссылка ]
Online store: [ Ссылка ]

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