12 Etudes-Caprices & Genoise & Folies Espagnoles

Camillo Sivori was Paganini's only acknowledged pupil, and a musician in his master's mould, a virtuoso of incredible brilliance. He was also a composer of distinction. His Caprice Studies are superbly realized examples of grace, lyricism and exceptional digital difficulty drawing on the resources of a prodigious technique. La Génoise consists of a theme and seven variations with violin and piano equal partners in a breathtaking display of brio and bravura. Folies espagnoles is a descriptive marvel, a parade of narrative 'engravings' that summon up Spanish sights and sounds. A pupil of Paolo Borciani, first violin of the Quartetto Italiano, Fulvio Luciani is the founder and first violin of the Quartetto Borciani. In many ways a loner, always unconventional in his approach to his music making, he is the first ever to have performed Sivori's Twelve Caprice Studies; Ricordi have published his edition of the work.