By
Published: Monday, 27 January 2025 at 14:56 PM
The best Paganini Caprices: 7 dazzlingly difficult works for violin
Read on to discover María Dueñas’s favourite Paganini Caprices – notoriously difficult works for the violin…
Best Paganini Caprices
Caprice No. 2
My favourite Paganini caprices are those in which the melodic line and structure play an equally important role as virtuosity. The Second is a fine example of this. Although it has many technical hurdles, it also has a purity to it, almost like a prayer; in fact, it reminds me a bit of Bach. I came to it relatively late, when I was 18 or so, but for me it is one of the most emotionally charged caprices. I love the challenge of doing justice to its musical qualities.
Caprice No. 4
People tend to think of No. 24 as the ‘special’ caprice. But I think No. 4 is even richer in many aspects. For one thing, it is probably the most difficult from a technical point of view. But I also think it has more emotional depth. There’s a sense of pain running through it, with many passages that start very, very quietly, giving you a sense that something is about to happen. Then there’s this moment, in the middle part, when everything kind of explodes – both technically and in an emotional sense. It’s very dramatic.
Caprice No. 5
This is probably the caprice that I’ve played the most. I learned it when I was about 12 and have always felt that it was a good showcase for my very fast playing, and my cantabile style. But I also see it as an opportunity for experimentation. Over the years, for instance, I’ve played around with the ricochet bowing, finding different ways to combine it with other types of bowing. And I’ve found new ways to mark each change of colour or key, through my use of dynamics and breaks. It’s all part of the fun challenge of keeping this piece fresh and alive.
Best Paganini Caprices
Caprice No. 8
This is probably one of the least played caprices. It’s very repetitive, so I think for many people it’s hard to make something out of it. Plus, it has a lot of different characters, which are difficult to put together in a unified way. I’ve had to think a lot about how to structure it, but that very searching process has made this piece interesting to me: I enjoy the challenge of exaggerating the contrasts between moods and characters, while also finding ways of connecting them.
Caprice No. 11
This is probably the most touching caprice of all. The beginning goes straight to the heart, featuring all sorts of bel canto motifs. It’s a very operatic style; I feel that we should actually sing it instead of playing it. But then you get to the middle part, which is totally different: very fast and rhythmical, full of nervous energy. As a violinist, you need to be able to switch quickly from one character to the other, but also to sing every note, even in the fast and virtuosic passages. This is a challenge, yes, but a good one.
Caprice No. 21
This caprice reminds me of a wise old person looking back over a long life, with a main theme that sounds elegant and serene at first, but then embraces all sorts of other characters. There are plenty of reminiscences of youth in the fast and virtuoso passages. And the opening is such a statement; I would actually begin a concert with this piece. It just goes to show how many kinds of emotions Paganini was able to cram into a single page, which is why this caprice is so fulfilling to me.
Best Paganini Caprices
Caprice No. 24
I had to choose this one, right? I mean, it’s the caprice of all time. Here, Paganini combines everything that we already had in the previous caprices: double stops, wild bowings, cantabile moments, sad moments, nostalgia and plenty of furious passages. It’s a showcase for everything one can go through in a lifetime, showing just how much Paganini developed as a person over the four or five years it took him to reach this final caprice in the series. I love the way that it starts off very intimately, and then just keeps on gathering energy. The last few seconds are very, very crazy.
Who is María Dueñas?
Hailing from Granada, the Spanish violinist María Dueñas shot to fame in 2021 when she won first prize and the audience prize at the Yehudi Menuhin Competition, aged 18. Since then, she has performed as a soloist with ensembles including the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Oslo Philharmonic, with BBC Radio 3 naming her a New Generation Artist from 2021-23. She has also signed to Deutsche Grammophon, and released her debut album in May 2023 featuring Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. In February 2025, she releases Paganini’s 24 Caprices, alongside works by Berlioz, Cervelló, Kreisler, Ortiz, Saint-Saëns, Sarasate and Wieniawski.