Canadian guitarist Drew Henderson performs Caprice No. 20 from 24 Caprices for solo violin, Op. 1 by Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840). This comes via Henderson’s excellent YouTube channel. Henderson is one of my favourite players and really brings these works to justice on guitar. Beautiful opening section followed by virtuosic runs in the middle. The sheet music is free on his site.
Here’s his description on YouTube:
Of all the Paganini caprices, the 20th seems to be the easiest to adapt to the classical guitar. The extensive use of the open D string as a drone (meant to imitate a bagpipe), the lack of any “light speed” violin runs, and the general range of this piece make it readable off the original score with only a few considerations to make when adapting it to the guitar. Having said that, it’s still hard as hell!
Admittedly, the “bagpipe” effect is lost on the guitar, however it still stands as a beautiful piece and serves as one of the best slur etudes I have found.
