Achron-Paganini Caprices for Violin and Piano
(Performance Edition)
The Joseph Achron Society is proud to present the first published edition of Achron's brilliant Paganini Caprice transcriptions. Commissioned by Jascha Heifetz, these highly creative and complex transcriptions shed new light on the many harmonic, contrapuntal, structural, and performance possibilities of the famous Paganini Caprices. Our edition features an historical introduction by Dr. Maiko Kawabata, author of a book on The Cult of Paganini: Virtuosity, the Violin, and Demonic Power, as well as a performance introduction by violinist and conductor Yuval Waldman. Of special interest to violinists are Achron's own extensive fingerings, based largely on his revolutionary new system for fingering the chromatic scales (described in Yuval Waldman's introduction.)
For information on purchasing the score and part, please fill out the form on our Contact Us page.
For information on purchasing the score and part, please fill out the form on our Contact Us page.
Performance Introduction (Excerpt)
Yuval Waldman, Violinist
Achron arranged the Paganini Caprices between 1919 and 1923. Those are the years in which he undertook extensive concert tours of Russia, Europe, and the Middle East, and it’s possible that he used these transcriptions to enhance his own performances as a violinist. (He is said to have performed over 1000 concerts at this time.)
It was also during these years that Achron wrote a brief article explaining his new, unusual system of fingering the chromatic scale, a system which he used extensively in his fingerings for these Caprices. At that time, the most common way of playing a chromatic scale was to slide a single finger from note-to-note. In Achron’s view, this made the scale very difficult and uncomfortable to play clearly at a quick tempo, and it always gave the effect of a “blurry greasing”. As a solution to this problem, Achron developed a careful system of fingering based on that of the diatonic scale, replacing slides and shifts with consecutive finger articulation. In fact, Achron saw value in both systems for producing different effects, and he used them both in these Caprices: the first to produce an artistic “greasing” effect in Caprice No. 13, mm. 1-2; and the second to produce a very clear, precise effect in Caprice No. 21, m. 18. Achron was clearly influenced by the Caprices when he wrote his article, because he used the latter example from Caprice No.21 as an illustration:
It was also during these years that Achron wrote a brief article explaining his new, unusual system of fingering the chromatic scale, a system which he used extensively in his fingerings for these Caprices. At that time, the most common way of playing a chromatic scale was to slide a single finger from note-to-note. In Achron’s view, this made the scale very difficult and uncomfortable to play clearly at a quick tempo, and it always gave the effect of a “blurry greasing”. As a solution to this problem, Achron developed a careful system of fingering based on that of the diatonic scale, replacing slides and shifts with consecutive finger articulation. In fact, Achron saw value in both systems for producing different effects, and he used them both in these Caprices: the first to produce an artistic “greasing” effect in Caprice No. 13, mm. 1-2; and the second to produce a very clear, precise effect in Caprice No. 21, m. 18. Achron was clearly influenced by the Caprices when he wrote his article, because he used the latter example from Caprice No.21 as an illustration:
Achron’s system of fingering, which eventually replaced the older system in common usage, was immediately influential, as indicated by a letter from Jascha Heifetz:
“My dear Joseph… a few days ago I heard a violinist playing [your chromatic scale exercise] and I asked him
where he happened to learn it. He said from a fellow pupil in Germany, but he did not know who conceived
the idea. Of course, I told him it was yours and that I had been using it for at least ten years… He also said
he had showed it to several violinists, and I have no doubt there are many others who, as he did, play it
without knowing the originator. I was glad of the opportunity to place credit where it belongs.”
[...]
[Read more in the published edition.]
“My dear Joseph… a few days ago I heard a violinist playing [your chromatic scale exercise] and I asked him
where he happened to learn it. He said from a fellow pupil in Germany, but he did not know who conceived
the idea. Of course, I told him it was yours and that I had been using it for at least ten years… He also said
he had showed it to several violinists, and I have no doubt there are many others who, as he did, play it
without knowing the originator. I was glad of the opportunity to place credit where it belongs.”
[...]
[Read more in the published edition.]
