Geoffrey wrote: ↑Tue Nov 18, 2025 7:02 pm
...a version of how paganini appeared on stage...
...that anyone can play the final solo minutes of the 'allegro maestoso' piece is almost beyond comprehension...
Fun picture of Paganini -- he does look "otherworldly" with his long, slim body and wild mannerisms, and it must have been quite the experience to see him in action! He was certainly one of the first "rock stars" of classical music, and the rumours and stories that circulated about him were genuinely bizarre, not least of which was the most famous one, as you noted, of his having made a pact with the Devil in order to be able to play the way he did! I also rather like the rumour that Paganini killed at least one woman, made violin strings out of her intestines, and imprisoned her soul within his violin -- so marvellously gruesome (but also highly unlikely...).
It is interesting that some of the technical challenges that composers like Paganini wrote back in the day are now much less daunting and more accessible to a greater number of instrumentalists, compared to when they were first written and only a few could master them. When these fiendishly difficult pieces of music were written, the techniques and styles required to play them were quite new, often created for the music itself, and sometimes based on the exceptional skills of the composers, many of whom were also gifted instrumentalists (or possessed by the Devil, depending on who you talk to!). Nowadays, there are children and young adults who can play these difficult pieces to perfection, but, for me, that makes it no less astonishing.
It was incredible to watch Kerson Leong's fingers and bow moving so fast in some of those passages of the Paganini Concerto, and to hear the otherworldly sounds coming out of his violin. The cadenza was particularly awe-inspiring: Leong played Émile Sauret's cadenza, which is probably what you were referring to when you mentioned the last few minutes of the "allegro maestoso".* The whole thing was truly breathtaking: when the concerto came to an end, I almost felt exhausted and I was literally breathless from the intensity of it (for I know that I stopped breathing -- held my breath -- several times during Leong's amazing performance, as I intently focussed on what he was doing).
* There is no existing cadenza written by Paganini for his first violin concerto, for he most likely improvised it when he performed the concerto himself, and thus he never bothered to write anything down, but the one composed by Émile Sauret -- which is considered the most difficult to play -- is quite popular, and it brilliantly showcases the virtuosity of the soloist (if they are up to the task!).
For those who may not be familiar with the term, a cadenza is a solo passage within a concerto, of an improvised (or seemingly improvised) and virtuosic character, often played towards the end of a movement, although it can appear elsewhere in a work. Historically, it was usually the custom for the soloist performing a concerto to make up their own cadenzas, for not all composers wrote them down. Even if a composer did write a cadenza, soloists always had the right to use their own, if they were so inclined. For some of the most famous concertos from the past -- including Paganini's Violin Concerto No.1 -- various other musicians and composers wrote down and published cadenzas that became popular: for example, both Beethoven and Brahms wrote cadenzas for some of Mozart's piano concertos, and their versions are still played today.
A lot of contemporary soloists play existing cadenzas when they perform pieces (not all instrumentalists are exceptional composers/improvisors), but there are some who make up their own cadenzas when they perform concertos: last year, I attended a couple of concerts of Beethoven's five Piano Concertos, and the soloist, Marc-André Hamelin, played cadenzas of his own for the first four concertos, which made it very interesting, hearing brand new sections of music in works that I otherwise knew so well. For the most part, Hamelin's cadenzas are very good. Beethoven did actually write out and publish cadenzas for his piano concertos, which, of course, are spectacular, and most performers choose to play them rather than trying to compose their own, but Bravo to Hamelin for creating his own versions!
Onto movies! I started watching the new Frankenstein film on the weekend, but I only got a few minutes into it before deciding that it was not for me: there was far more graphic violence than I was willing to tolerate, and I did not wish to see any more of it. I do enjoy the occasional horror flick, but I have to be in the mood for it, and the (arguably) gratuitous and hyper-realistic depiction of violence generally does not appeal to me.
Psychological horror movies tend to be amongst my favourites (although they can be rather harrowing!). I loved Hugh Grant in last year's "Heretic": the psychological elements of the film -- as well as the often very witty dialogue -- were a delight, and Hugh Grant was absolutely perfect, with a combination of charm and menace. Have you seen it? I am sure that you would be amused by some of the themes in the discussion amongst the characters during the first half of the film!
"Companion" sounds like fun -- I will have to add it to my list.
