Niccolo Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 6 (aka. No. 0) in E Minor, MS 75, Massimo Quarta

Violin Concerto “No. 0“ played on Paganini’s violin: Massimo Quarta (soloist, conductor), Genoa,”Carlo Felice” Theater Orchestra, cadenza by M. Quarta “Although this work carries the number 6 it is actually the earliest of Paganini’s surviving concertos. For a long time only a version for violin and guitar was available and Federico Mompellio and Francesco Fiore provided the orchestral accompaniment (published in 1973). Paganini wrote this concerto to flaunt his violinistic virtuosity as no other music of his time could. In and around melodies that are ardently if not profoundly expressive the soloist gets to show off lines in the violin’s highest compass, wide leaps of register, dashing scales and arpeggios, strings of trills, =saltando= bowing, and passages in double stops . The orchestra accompanies discretely and sometimes speaks up in =tutti= passages of its own. Much of the music recalls opera, and the tone is predominantly plaintive.” (by Aaron Rabushka)