Paganini: 24 Caprices, Op. 1 / Mayuko Kamio

$11.99
Label
Sony Masterworks
Release Date
January 26, 2010
Format
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PAGANINI 24 Caprices • Mayuko Kamio (vn) • SONY 88697449442 (78:56)


Mayuki Kamio’s recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices, one of the many in the catalog, shows that violinists now consider this kind of integral recording almost pro forma , while, as Julian Haylock points out in the notes, older violinists like Milstein and Heifetz, supreme technicians though they may have been, played in public and recorded only a handful.


Kamio sharply etches off-the-string bowings in No. 1; her attack remains aggressively crisp throughout. In No. 2, she makes the moving lines prominent and preserves fine distinctions between a wide variety of dynamic levels throughout. Her attacks on the octaves that open No. 3 sound like so many saber slashes, while she plays the running notes in the central section with a clarity that allows every note to speak individually. While some violinists begin the slow opening of No. 4 with the force of a gale wind, Kamio holds back slightly, building intensity until the beginning of the fast middle section, which she conducts like a swordfight. Similarly, No. 5 sounds dashing, as she sweeps up and down the fingerboard in the outer section; though her off-the-string bowings make for an adrenaline-laced middle section at breakneck speed, at moments near the beginning the passagework sounds just slightly uneven. The octaves of No. 7, like those at the opening of No. 3, sound preternaturally clean, and her staccatos in the middle section hiss and spit (as do those of No. 23). In No. 9, she makes even less of the contrasts between the upper and lower registers than did Michael Rabin, and she doesn’t adopt a fast tempo just to create excitement (it’s hard to attribute all the excitement of Rabin’s performance of that caprice to the tempo alone; his razor-sharp technique plays a dominant role in creating that effect); she achieves that by her greased-lightening runs and sharply accentuated higher notes and trills in the middle section (at the same time speaking musically through the technical passages). No. 10 and the Presto of No. 11 become knife-throwing tours de force in her performance. In No. 12, Kamio makes the moving line mesmerizingly clear, as she did in No. 2. No. 13, the “Devil’s Laugh,” has little of mirth about it in this reading, but lots of the Devil. No. 15 may not be a popular encore piece, but Kamio plays it in such a manner as to make it seem like a likely candidate for that role. The 16th notes on the G string in No. 19 sound powerful enough to wake the dead, and the middle section of No. 20 seems downright menacing. No. 24 may not be the most difficult of the caprices, but it’s a concise summary, in Kamio’s performance, of all that’s gone before: all the stiletto thrusts and deadly fencing.


Kamio seems to have unleashed the same sort of aggressive instincts as those in readings by Ricci and Rabin. When Ricci played some of the most hair-raising passages, he seemed barely in control; Kamio is chillingly in control, and she never seems to be taking chances. She’s The Bride in Kill Bill . Here’s playing, as it’s been said in other contexts, to make “babies cry out in the night” (listen to the fingered octaves in No. 17). At the same time, she doesn’t improvise, as did Alexander Markov (originally on Erato 2292-45502-2, reviewed by David K. Nelson in Fanfare 14:2, and rereleased on Apex 2564 69987, 32:1) or Thomas Zehetmair (ECM B00013264, 22:3), nor does she emphasize the Italianate operatic elements in Paganini’s musical manner. Kamio plays a 1727 Stradivari, and the engineers have miked her fairly close up. But the effect of the performances seems to result more from her technical—and musical—acuity than from the tonal resources of the instrument she plays (except perhaps in moments like No. 18’s Corrente on a particularly stentorian G string). The readings have a similar effect to that of observing a delicately carved scrimshaw under a microscope, with every cut clearly revealed. Or maybe that of receiving several dozen deep paper cuts. That manner might not serve performances of Bach sonatas or Mozart concertos, but in Paganini’s caprices, it’s supreme. So is Kamio: She communicates in a way similar to Quentin Tarantino’s. Not for the faint of heart, but to everyone else, very strongly recommended.


FANFARE: Robert Maxham


Product Description:

  • Release Date: January 26, 2010


  • UPC: 886974494423


  • Catalog Number: 88697449442


  • Label: Sony Masterworks


  • Number of Discs: 1


  • Composer: Niccolo, Paganini


  • Performer: Mayuko Kamino