6 Caprices (c.1805)

arranged for string quartet by William Zinn

No.9 in E major: Allegretto

No.14 in E flat major: Moderato

No.17 in E flat major: Sostenuto – Andante

No.18 in C major: Corrente – Allegro – Corrente

No.20 in D major: Allegretto

No.24 in A minor Tema con Variazioni: Quasi Presto

“What a man, what a violin, what an artist!” wrote Franz Liszt shortly after hearing Paganini in a charity concert in Paris in 1832. “Heavens! What sufferings, what misery, what tortures in those four strings.” His immediate reaction was not only to attempt to do for the piano what Paganini had done for the violin but also to to write virtuoso piano versions of a selection of the by then famous 24 Caprices. Robert Schumann, who wrote in his diary of the “incredibly enchanting” effect of Paganini’s playing, did much the same thing at much the same time. Clearly, the 24 Caprices are far more than studies in violin playing, more than an unparalleled extension of instrumental technique, but a source of fascination for some of the greatest of all musical minds.

They have remained a source of fascination ever since. The continuing career of the 24th Caprice in A minor, based on a theme which has launched a thousand variations – notably by Brahms and Rachmaninov but many others too – is sufficient demonstration of that. One reason, apart from the brilliance of their writing and the quality of their melodic material, is that they are scored for solo violin, which means that, for all Paganini’s resourcefulness, they are comparatively limited in colour variety. The string-quartet arrangements by William Zinn – American composer, string player and arranger of everything from Bach to Bluegrass – are never lacking in colour. Extra harmonics, pizzicato and trill effects as well as extensions of pitch in both directions – not to mention added introductory and cadential phrases – are a striking feature of No.9 in E major. Zinn’s version of No.14 in E flat is nearer the original, as is that of No.17 in E flat, in spite of a somewhat cranky cello and a vastly more voluminous version of the furious octaves in the middle section.

Having four instruments at his disposal, Zinn is able to indulge his contrapuntal imagination where Paganini could not, as in No.18 in C, or otherwise enrich the texture, as in No.20 in D, which he also extends length. There is more than a little new material in Zinn’s version of the variationsof No.24 in A major, which he begins like Rachmaninov by presenting a variation before the theme itself and ends like Liszt by offering his own finale.