With all the media coverage around MJ... I thought about "classical" pop stars of the past...
I thought of Liszt and Paganini... both crowd pleasers.
And Paganini-- well people used to say the he done sold his soul to the devil
The dreaded 24th caprice.
scratch that...
I mean...
I won't go into details about Paganini and the 24th caprice- I won't tell you how it's one of the most difficult violin pieces, how it's a theme, with eleven variations, and a finale, how he was supposed to be all demonic and stuff,
I thought of Liszt and Paganini... both crowd pleasers.
And Paganini-- well people used to say the he done sold his soul to the devil
The dreaded 24th caprice.
scratch that...
I mean...
I won't go into details about Paganini and the 24th caprice- I won't tell you how it's one of the most difficult violin pieces, how it's a theme, with eleven variations, and a finale, how he was supposed to be all demonic and stuff,
Yawn...
My favorite version is by Izthak Perlman. It's the warmest and most tasteful.
Often people play it too fast.
Often people play it too fast.
Hilary Hahn's version is my favorite on YouTube.
Listen to it... in the dark. It's not a transcendental piece of music, although parts of it soar-- The older I get, the more it strikes me as darker than when I first obsessed over it . I can truthfully say that I've heard the 24th caprice-- close to a thousand times, maybe more. How can I say that? Over a two year period I probably listened to it-- at least, 3-5 times a day.
There are a couple of other pieces that I can say the same thing about- Ry Cooder's "She's Leaving the Bank" from the Paris, Texas soundtrack is one of the others.
But back to the 24th Caprice, it does seem to attract the obsessives-- there are tons of versions of this...on different instruments as well. I'll hunt some of them down for you- but honestly. they won't mean much if you haven't heard it on a violin.
I don't know why I've come to think of it as a dark paean, maybe I'm a happier person, but as I listen to it now I can't help but shiver a bit.. not because of the diabolic silliness, but because it sounds so desperate.
A biography
Listen to it... in the dark. It's not a transcendental piece of music, although parts of it soar-- The older I get, the more it strikes me as darker than when I first obsessed over it . I can truthfully say that I've heard the 24th caprice-- close to a thousand times, maybe more. How can I say that? Over a two year period I probably listened to it-- at least, 3-5 times a day.
There are a couple of other pieces that I can say the same thing about- Ry Cooder's "She's Leaving the Bank" from the Paris, Texas soundtrack is one of the others.
But back to the 24th Caprice, it does seem to attract the obsessives-- there are tons of versions of this...on different instruments as well. I'll hunt some of them down for you- but honestly. they won't mean much if you haven't heard it on a violin.
I don't know why I've come to think of it as a dark paean, maybe I'm a happier person, but as I listen to it now I can't help but shiver a bit.. not because of the diabolic silliness, but because it sounds so desperate.
A biography
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