Paganini​'s Complete Caprices Pierre Lenert

• Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840): 24 Caprices, Op. 1:
• 1 I. Andante 01:50
• 2 II. Moderato 05:18
• 3 III. Sostenuto. Presto 03:22
• 4 IV. Maestoso 06:44
• 5 V. Agitato 02:56
• 6 VI. Adagio 04:53
• 7 VII. Siciliana. Presto 04:50
• 8 VIII. Maestoso 04:15
• 9 IX. Allegretto 02:57
• 10 X. Vivace 03:25
• 11 XI. Andante 04:29
• 12 XII. Allegro 02:50
• 13 XIII. Allegro 02:50
• 14 XIV. Moderato 02:28
• 15 XV. Posato 03:02
• 16 XVI. Presto 01:18
• 17 XVII. Sostenuto. Andante 04:20
• 18 XVIII. Corrente. Allegro 02:54
• 19 XIX. Lento. Allegro assai 03:37
• 20 XX. Allegretto 03:44
• 21 XXI. Amoroso Presto 03:28
• 22 XXII. Marcato 03:10
• 23 XXIII. Posato 04:13
• 24 XXIV. Tema con Variazione 05:26
• Total Runtime 01:28:19

Info for Paganini​'s Complete Caprices

This recording of Niccolo Paganini’s Caprices is the first for viola since Emanuel Vardi’s complete recording for Epic, in 1965.

This miraculous collection of Caprices is more than just a study on virtuosity. It is a veritable treasure, a collection of masterpieces which the composer focused on a myriad of technical difficulties, each invented to elicit surprising harmonic richness.

Pierre Lenert, viola

Pierre Lenert
First Solo Violist at the Paris National Opera since age 19, was born in France into a musical family. His first master was none but his own Father Jean Lenert, after whom he went on to study with Kim Kashkashian in Luxembourg and Hatto Beyerle in Germany. He has been praised for its high-profile performances and astounding ease, throughout countless concerts he gave in major concert halls such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Brick Hall in Nagasaki, the Salle Pleyel, the Châtelet and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, and the Paris National Opera among many others.

Pierre Lenert has won several major international competitions, namely the Maurice Vieux International Viola Competition in France, the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in England, and the International Music Competition Markneukirchen in Germany. Following these successes he was sponsored by the Philip Morris Foundation and the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation.

A soloist hailed as an « amazing talent » with « flawless virtuosity », Pierre Lenert has been playing solo concertante works with world-class orchestras such as the Paris National Opera Orchestra, the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, the Camerata Orchestra of Athens, the Orchestra of the Gran Teatro del Liceo, under the batons of famous conductors among which Myung Wung Chung, James Conlon, Armin Jordan, Edmond Colomer, Jacques Mercier, Fumiaki Miyamoto or Augustin Dumay.

His international career as a chamber musician was launched at the Marlboro Festival (United States) where he played alongside illustrious mentors such as Rudolf Serkin, Paul Tortelier, Isidore Cohen and David Soyer. Since then he has performed chamber music at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, in Kuhmo in Finland, at the BBC Proms Chamber Music Series in London or the Schubertiade Festival in Austria, along with Joshua Bell, Viktoria Mullova, Jeff Cohen, Martin Frost, Isabelle Faust, Alban Gerhardt, Marie Hallynck, Hervé Joulain, Patrick Messina, Nicolas Stavy, Eliane Reyes, Alexandre Tharaud, Cédric Tiberghien, Alissa Margulis, the Danel Quartet and many other great musicians.

In 2005, Pierre Lenert founded the Festival Sérénade in France, of which he is the Artistic Director. The same year he launched the Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume String Trio.with violinist Eric Lacrouts, soloist at the Paris Opera, and cellist Cyril Lacrouts, first solo cello at the Paris Opera. He has had the honour to world-premiere several new works by contemporary composers Edison Denisov, Michiru Oshima (Viola Concerto Voices of Life), Marc Bleuse, Antoine Duhamel, Thierry Pecou and Ian Wilson.

On disc, Pierre Lenert is has been hailed for his « delicacy, his sensitivity and the perfect balance of his interpretations ». His latest recording for the label Integral Classic with pianist Cédric Tiberghien – works by Enesco, Milhaud and Françaix – was highly praised by major international music reviews Classica, Diapason and World Music.

Pierre Lenert plays an outstanding 1865 viola by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume.

This album contains no booklet.