ROCHBERG: CAPRICE VARIATIONS - PETER SHEPPARD SKAERVED (violin)

ID: MSVCD92065 (EAN: 5060054460132)  | 2 CD | DDD
Released in: 2010

LABEL:

METIER

Collection:

Instrumental

Subcollection:

Violin

Composers:

ROCHBERG, George

Interprets:

SKAERVED, Peter Sheppard (violin)

Other info:

An immense and amgnificent set of variations by American composer George Rochberg, not just, as the title may suggest, on Paganini's famous 24th Caprice, but incorporating styles and forms "borrowed" from many other ocmposers, such as Mahler, Brahms, Busoni, Schubert and Beethoven! The work is played on the renowned "Habeneck" Stradivarius violin of 1734. Violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved is a virtuoso of the first order and a regular Metier recording artist.
tracks:
CD1: Variations 1-45
CD2: Variations 46-51

“the performance is so compelling that interest never wavers; the recording is fine; and it doesn't matter where the music came from since this magnificent instrument enjoys every note. “ - Peter Dickinson (Gramophone)

“What a recording!… violinist Skaerved, playing on Francois-Antoine Habeneck's 1734 Strad, handles the work's many terrors with appropriate style and gusto. These are 51 dazzling variations on Paganini's wellworn tune. It's a thrill a minute, and it's outrageous enough to impress Paganini himself” - Allen Gimbel (American Record Guide)

“the journey is an impressive one… I have no hesitation in recommending it” - Peter Grahame Woolf (Musical Pointers)

“This quirky, witty, beautiful and often bewildering 90-minute work's sense of shape and purpose feels brilliantly complete.” - Catherine Nelson (The Strad) “

I have to say that Skærved sounds amazing. He’s playing the 1734 Habeneck Strad. Kudos to Metier’s David Lefeber for capturing the instrument and Skærved’s passionate playing. These variations-on-variations have grown on me and it’s a treat to hear a Strad sound so good.” - Grant Chu Covell (La Folia)

“I find this performance to be exceedingly sensitive and technically at a very high level. The Skaerved recording is in better sound [than the Zeitlin version]” - Scott Morrison (Amazon.com)