Drew Henderson Plays Caprice No. 20 by Paganini

ByBradford Werner
2021

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.

Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and music publisher from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He originally created this site for his students at the Victoria Conservatory of Music but now shares content worldwide. Curating guitar content helps students absorb the culture, musical ideas, and technique of the classical guitar. Bradford also has a YouTube channel with over 94,000 subscribers and 13 million views. He taught classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory of Music for 16 years and freelanced in Greater Victoria for 20 years and now dedicates much of his time curating content online and helping connect the classical guitar community. See more at his personal website.