Caprices from María Dueñas

Language is revealing. When I spoke to María Dueñas a little while ago about this album (look out for that interview shortly), she gave me a miniature Spanish lesson and explained that a capricho is more to do with freedom and creativity than the connotations of triviality conjured up by the English word ‘capricious’. That observation totally changed my outlook on the pieces featured in today’s Recording of the Week - a selection of caprices by Paganini and others. 

Paganini’s twenty-four Caprices for solo violin are perhaps best thought of as a set of free-standing cadenzas. The first thing that stands out about Dueñas’s account of these formidable technical peaks is the glittering, ringing sound of her high notes. It’s apparent in Nos. 1 and 2, and this sets the tone for the rest of the set - the top As in No. 5 are enthralling. Many of the Caprices also feature tricky double-stopping, and the second thing that caught my ear was Dueñas’s incredible facility with this particular technique. There’s a silky smoothness about No. 3’s double-stopped octaves that I’ve simply never heard before (giving even Alina Ibragimova, whose 2020 recording of the Caprices I greatly enjoyed, a run for her money), and this comes back elsewhere, such as in the opening of No. 19 and the stratospheric tenths in No. 22. 

I don’t know what this says about me as a person - psychiatrists please feel free to send in your speculations - but while listening to this recording I suddenly realised that I much prefer the major-mode Caprices to those in the minor. Thus the second half, which is almost all in the major, felt more in line with Dueñas’s vision of self-indulgent pleasure than the rather soul-searching first half. Her command of the music is equally impeccable throughout, of course - but her performance acquires a twinkle in its eye here, and she really comes out to play in a way that wasn’t so apparent before. 

The album’s first disc alone is impressive enough - an account of the Caprices worthy to stand alongside any of the established greats - but the second is if anything even more special. Dueñas rounds out the programme with other caprices from a variety of composers offers not only sonic variety (most of these are accompanied) but a broader perspective on the concept of a ‘caprice’ itself, by showing what others have done with the idea.

Space being limited, I’ll pick out a few particular highlights from this selection. Sarasate’s Caprice basque is enlivened by a rhythm rather reminiscent of a train clattering along the tracks (those familiar with Flanders and Swann’s Slow Train might hear echoes here), and there’s a beautiful arrangement of Kreisler’s Caprice viennois for violin and guitar that sees Dueñas joined by Raphaël Feuillâtre. She also showcases the solo Milstein Caprice by the late Jordi Cervelló that he wrote specifically for her, in response to her playing having reminded him of the great Nathan Milstein, and joins Boris Kuschnir in a wonderful duo by Wieniawski where the two play as though telepathically linked. Curiously, amid many far more technically impressive pieces, this last was my favourite track on the album (and this close feeling of togetherness helped inspire our Valentine’s Day playlist of instrumental duos, which you can hear over on our streaming service).

The delectable Caprice andalous for violin and orchestra displays Saint-Saëns’ ever-present interest in the ‘exotic’ and ‘Oriental’; and it would be most remiss of me not to mention recent Grammy-winner Gabriela Ortiz’s De cuerda y madera, written especially for this album and the product of a longstanding friendship between the two women, who bonded over their shared Hispanic cultural heritage. It’s atmospheric and spacious at first, almost like a modern spin on Copland’s Appalachian Spring soundworld; the violin and piano largely equal partners, interweaving perfectly and ending together on a vivacious, jazzy note.

This feels like a very personal album - a real statement of self-identity, loosely disguised as merely a collection of showstopping fireworks. That’s not to disparage Dueñas’s recording of Beethoven’s violin concerto by any means - here, though, I think we encounter something about her not just as an accomplished performer, but as a creative and innovative thinker.