ITALIAN Niccolo Paganini was the technical wizard/ showman personified, a virtuoso who created a new ethos for the violin.
The piano, too, for Liszt's transcendental writing for the keyboard was strongly influenced by his trills and thrills.
Ten of Paganini's small-scale works, largely unfamiliar, appear on a recording with Salvatore Accardo and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (EMI CZS 767567).
These include the Carnival of Venice Variations, the Rosaini Moses in Egypt Variations and the incredible Moto Perpetuo. For Accardo, a master fiddler, these present no problems.
Other interesting pieces are the sonata Varsavia, the sonata Maria Luisa sul Sol and Sonata for Large Viola, the latter reminding us Paganini was also an excellent violist.
It is not all flashy stuff and there are many moments of passionate Italian warmth. SIR Michael Tippett wrote his moving oratorio A Child of our Time during World War II. It concerns the murder in Paris of a Nazi diplomat by a Jewish youth trying to avenge the persecution of his people in Germany.
