A fascinating and eclectic collection of caprices ranging from Paganini to a wide selection of contemporary composers, some of whom contribute not only individual works, but who joined together for a splendid composite set of variations on Paganini’s famous 24th caprice. This is a personal, daring and exciting album of dazzling virtuosity!
Due for release March 2022 on Rubicon Classics.
Works by Tom Coult, Niccolò Paganini, Grażyna Bacewicz, Freya Waley-Cohen, Oliver Leith, Fritz Kreisler, Roxanna Panufnik, Laurence Osborn, Mark O'Connor, Andra Patterson, Laura Reid, Emily Howard, Sally Beamish, Stuart MacRae, Adrian Sutton, Alexandra Harwood, Piers Hellawell, James Joslin, Robin Haigh, Héloïse Werner, Seonaid Aitken and Errollyn Wallen.
...For all the powerhouse virtuosity of its solo part, Sibelius's Violin Concerto also has a brooding streak that isn’t at all typical of the genre, and it takes an unusually fine artist to be able to bridge the two extremes. Fenella Humphreys’s playing is a genuine revelation in the way it brings out the music’s dark and introspective qualities, with no shortage of technical panache meanwhile....Humphreys offers searching and beautifully focused lyrical expression, laser-like accuracy of tuning (in the double-stopped passages remarkably so), plus the wonderful tawny-brown sonority of her choice of Guarneri violin with its gorgeous lower register. Every shade of the six Humoresques’ brand of whimsical invention, too, is deftly captured, with quality orchestral playing to match.
Malcolm Hayes - BBC Music Magazine