Fanfoni is a very impressive technician. His tempi of choice remind us that this is music and not just technical exercises.

Pietro Antonio Locatelli was one of the most admired and influential violinist-composers of the 18th century. The summit of his achievement is L’arte del violino, Op. 3, twelve concertos for violin, strings and continuo, each of which contains two sizeable cadenzas that Locatelli called Capricci – bravura pieces independent of their concerto context. Greatly developing chord and arpeggio techniques and full of double-stops and string crossings, they are the most demanding violin works ever composed before Paganini’s own Capricci, which may well have been influenced by Locatelli’s example.

REVIEW:

These Caprices are actually cadenzas from the 12 violin concertos in his massive Opus 3, L’Arte del Violino, published in 1733. The teenaged Nicolo Paganini studied these Caprices in the 1790s, and you hear echoes of them everywhere in his own 24 Caprices published in 1820. It is remarkable how advanced they are and how little technical advancement Paganini’s own Caprices make over these. They are not as musical as Paganini’s, but they are as exciting and very impressive. I have heard one other complete recording of them by Emmanuele Baldini (Nov/Dec 2012). I was greatly impressed by his playing and find it remarkable that he managed to fit them onto a single disc. He can certainly play fast! But overall I prefer the present set. Fanfoni is a very impressive technician too, and his slower tempos remind us that this is music and not just technical exercises. He brings out their drama better than Baldini. The recorded sound is also fuller and more impressive.

Fanfoni plays a violin made by Gioffredo Cappa in Saluzzo, Italy, in 1690.

-- American Record Guide