I’m excited to be able to share this new project with you, commissioning and recording the music of four incredible young British composers. Freya Waley-Cohen, Seonaid Aitken, Laurence Osborn and Oliver Leith are each writing me a Caprice for solo violin, inspired by things as diverse as caffeine, love ballads, goats and Scottish reels. When you commission, you want the composers and their music to reach the biggest audience possible, so alongside performances over the coming seasons, I plan to record these Caprices in the new year. They will be presented alongside Caprices and Etudes by Paganini, Piazzolla, Mark O’Connor, Roxanna Panufnik, Tom Coult, Rebecca Saunders and many more. Some of these works are already well known and loved, others will be premiere recordings.
Caprices became really popular in the 19th Century, with Paganini demonstrating his incredible virtuosity through his set of 24 Caprices. He stretched the instrument’s capabilities in ways never before seen, and unsurprisingly stories abounded of his having made a pact with the devil, as ladies fainted in droves during his performances. People don’t faint as often in concerts now, but performing these works is still a brilliant challenge.
Paganini’s 24th Caprice is one of the most quoted tunes of all time, making its way from romantic piano music, through film scores, to death metal. In addition to the 4 new Caprices, a bunch of my composer friends have agreed each to write me a variation on the theme of Paganini’s 24th Caprice. Composers of this new set of variations include Sally Beamish, James Joslin, Robin Haigh and Alexandra Harwood. I’ve also been offering composers the opportunity on Twitter to try out their own variations on me – check out #PagVariations to see their results! Some of these are properly fantastic, so I plan to record a selection of them as part of the album too.
Although I’ve already found funding to cover most of the commission fees, I need your help to cover the recording costs and bring this exhilarating music to a wider audience. I have my producer Matthew Bennett and sound engineer Dave Rowell ready to go – they are the genius team behind my Bach, So Many Stars, and Max Richter Recomposed albums. If I make my Kickstarter target, the money you pledge will cover the costs of completing the commission fees, and fully recording the album.
There are so many challenges in performing and recording virtuosic music like this – pretty much every note feels like tight-rope walking! But it’s beyond exciting to face fears from my childhood head-on, and perform these works alongside incredible new music that’s been written for me. I have my recording team ready to go, and a provisional agreement in place with a fantastic label I have already recorded for. The biggest risk is just finding the funding to make the recording a reality, so thank you for your help!