Akiko Suwanai: Moscow 1990

As a life-long lover of the violin, and of violin playing, I have 44 recordings of Paganini's first violin concerto in D major. Pretty well every eminent violinist has recorded the work, and many of the recordings are first rate. My all-time favourite, however, is that by the Japanese violinist Akiko Suwanai, winning the 1990 Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow and taking first prize at the age of 18. The live performance is conducted by Pavel Kogan himself an eminent violinist, and son of Leonid Kogan who made a highly distinguished recording of the Paganini as did Leonid's pupil, Viktoria Mullova. The audience is pretty quiet and enraptured but, for once, I don't mind the wild applause at the end of the work. Paganini and I join in the cheers.

I usually frown at over-long cadenzas, but I don't mind the uncut Sauret first movement one here, because it's just so interesting to listen to Suwanai's playing, some full 31 years ago. Throughout the work, she plays beautifully and with devastating accuracy, even in passages where Paganini demands legato playing of a melody in double-stopped harmonics, a challenge where even the best violinists can make occasional fluffs. Suwanai excels in bravura where bravura is required; she excels in melting sentimentality where sentimentality is required. The work is given uncut, fortunately. I am annoyed when performers such as Michael Rabin cut whole passages in the work. Very rare that out of 44 different recordings I will opt for a personal “best”. But that is the case here. Bravo Akiko.

Alina Ibragimova impresses in Paganini

Pretty well everyone who records the 24 capricci by Paganini takes 75-79 minutes. Alina Ibragimova takes over 104 minutes and no, she does not noticeably play more slowly than the others, but she does repeat much of the music many times over, and some of the caprices — such as the fourth— go on for over nine minutes. Too long, for familiar material, often invoking thoughts of “oh no, not again!”

Ibragimova has a superb technique, and a wonderful sense of intonation, noticeable in the many passages where Paganini writes the music to be played in octaves. She is an intensely musical violinist, and she brings out the best of Paganini's music in the capricci. I just wish she didn't repeat so much of the material so often. The recording is good, though if you want to enjoy the lovely pianissimo playing on these CDs you will need occasionally to put up with some rather raucous fortissimo passages. The dynamic range is rather wide and occasionally taxes my faithful Sennheiser headphones. The sixth caprice has some lovely pianissimo playing; it's a caprice I could never imagine being able to play beyond the first bar, but it's wonderful in Ibragimova's hands.

The older generation of violinists rarely ventured into the caprices on record, and then only usually with a piano plunking uselessly away. So little or nothing from Kreisler, Heifetz, Oistrakh or Milstein. The first recording of the complete 24 was by Ruggiero Ricci in 1949. Nowadays there are plenty of sets on offer, including those by Sueye Park, James Ehnes, Augustin Hadelich, Rudolf Koelman, Michael Rabin, Itzhak Perlman, Leonidas Kavakos, Ning Feng, and Thomas Zehetmair. Tianwa Yang recorded the complete 24 when she was thirteen years old!

One does not normally think of Ibragimova in the Paganini-Sarasate repertoire; she is usually a violinist for the more serious repertoire. But in the capricci she shows that she has a real virtuoso side to her. A pity about all the repetitious material; when I come back to the set – as I will – it will be with a frequent use of the skip-to-the-next-track button on my remote control when a passage comes up for the sixth time round. If this is your first encounter with the 24, you may find this recording quite entrancing. If, like me, it's the 100^th time you hear these works, you may well find the amount of repetition annoying. Whatever. The performances are superb.