NICCOLÒ PAGANINI (1782-1840)
Sonatas for violin and guitar

Sonata no. 6 in A Major (from Centone di sonate, after 1828)
01 Larghetto cantabile 3:25
02 Rondò (allegro assai) 5:10

Sonata no. 12 in D major (from Centone di sonate)
03 Andante cantabile 2:33
04 Rondò alla bambina (allegretto) 4:11

Sonata concertata in A major (1804)
05 Allegro spiritoso 8:34
06 Adagio assai expressivo 2:51
07 Rondeau (allegretto con brio) 2:35

Sonata no. 14 in G major (from Centone di sonate)
08 Andante adagietto 3:47
09 Rondò 6:31

Sonata no. 2 in D major (from Centone di sonate)
10 Adagio cantabile 2:49
11 Rondoncino (tempo di polacca) 4:19

Sonata no. 7 in F major (from Centone di sonate)
12 Allegro giusto 6:23
13 Polacca (andantino allegretto) 8:45

Sonata no. 4 in A minor (from 6 Sonatas, op. 3, c.1805)
14 Andante largo 2:55
15 Allegro mottegiando 1:32

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About this album

Fabio Biondi has chosen a selection of delightful virtuoso chamber music pieces by Niccolò Paganini to mark his tenth album for Glossa. Together with his long-term colleague from Europa Galante, the plucked-string specialist Giangiacomo Pinardi (here playing an original romantic guitar from c1825), Biondi delivers one of the most special Glossa albums of recent times. The works, composed between 1804 and c1828, are mainly two-movement sonatas contained in the Centone di sonate collection, although the album also includes the popular Sonata concertata in A major.

Recorded in Valencia by the engineer and producer Fabio Framba (another well-known component of Biondi’s recording setups), the booklet of this album includes a highly original essay signed by Pierre Élie Mamou, in which he looks into the Devil/God dichotomy as applied to the figure of Paganini by his own contemporaries. The graphic design for the CD takes its inspiration from this idea, for another typically Glossa look, listen and read experience…