Paganini: Caprices, Op. 1
Michael Rabin (violin)
EMI
The loss of violinist Michael Rabin at the age of 35 was one of the great tragedies of 20th century music performance. His teacher Ivan Galamian described him as a perfect violinist - and many other violinists agreed. This recording of the Paganini Caprices has been a violin icon ever since it was made in 1958. Listening to it today, we can hear that time has not eclipsed Rabin's brilliance, the way he masters all the immense technical challenges and still makes music out of Paganini's thorny writing. Not even Itzhak Perlman, who credited Rabin as his inspiration, has surpassed these performances. One does wonder at EMI's prideful statement, "FIRST RELEASE ON COMPACT DISC OF ORIGINAL MONO MASTER TAPES." The assertion is untrue: these recordings were issued in mono as part of German EMI's six-disc Rabin box (CDF 3000182). It's also silly, since the recordings were made in stereo; EMI even issued a previous single-disc stereo edition in 1993! Still, considering the minor difference between mono and stereo in the recorded sound of a solo violin, the current edition with its true tonal quality is definitely worth hearing, especially if you're interested in violin virtuosity at its ultimate.
© andante Corp. May 2001. All rights reserved.
