Brahms & Schumann

Album review

Frankfurt, Easter Sunday, 1830. On this holy day, the violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini gave a recital of his 24 Caprices, Op. 1 to an enthusiastic audience: "How brilliantly and ineffably he captured the audience in his nets, which he wafted back and forth," wrote one of the spectators present that day. That spectator was Robert Schumann.

Enchanted by Paganini’s genius, he set about a literal transcription for piano of the Caprices Nos. 5, 9, 11, 13, 16 and 19 first published in 1832 as 6 Etudes sur des Caprices de Paganini, Op. 3. This was followed in 1832 by the 6 Concert Etudes, this time from Caprices Nos. 12, 6, 10, 4, 2 and 3. In contrast to the first cycle of 1830, the Concert Etudes, Op. 10 are a freer adaptation, reflecting Schumann's growing familiarity with the violinist's musical language.

A close friend of Robert and Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms, wrote his twenty-eight Variations on a Theme by Paganini, based on the twenty-fourth Caprice, thirty years later in 1862. Clara nicknamed these two notebooks the "Witch's Variations", as they were so tricky to play.

It took the technical virtuosity of Joseph Moog to overcome the complexity of these re-imaginings of Paganini's work. The sound recording, which reproduces the acoustics of a concert hall, prolongs the listening experience and makes us really feel the fascination that these very difficult works can exert in the hands of those artists who, like Moog, have been able to perform them. © Pierre Lamy/Qobuz