Captivating Caprices – María Dueñas Performs Works by Paganini and his Successors

by Berlioz, Cervelló, Kreisler, Saint-Saëns, Sarasate and Wieniawski

Out on 14 February 2025, her new album also includes
the world premiere recording of Gabriela Ortiz’s De Cuerda y Madera

Joining Dueñas are Raphaël Feuillâtre, Itamar Golan, Boris Kuschnir, Alexander Malofeev,
and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin & Mihhail Gerts

Listen to Kreisler’s Caprice viennois here

“The manner in which Dueñas acquits herself is nothing short of remarkable …
What a player, and what a way to launch a recording career”
Gramophone on María Dueñas’s debut DG album Beethoven and Beyond

María Dueñas finds the perfect balance between artistry and technique as she tackles an icon of the repertoire for her second Deutsche Grammophon album. Having earned rave reviews and a 2024 OPUS KLASSIK Young Talent of the Year award for her DG debut, Beethoven and Beyond, the Spanish violinist now turns to Paganini’s legendary 24 Caprices. She couples these with a selection of later works inspired by Paganini, presenting music by composers ranging from Berlioz to Gabriela Ortiz. Dueñas is joined in chamber pieces by Boris Kuschnir, pianists Itamar Golan and Alexander Malofeev and guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre, and in orchestral caprices by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Mihhail Gerts.

The album will be released digitally, as a 2‑CD set, on vinyl (2 LPs) and as an exclusive fan box edition on 14 February 2025. A first track, Kreisler’s Caprice viennois (with Feuillâtre), will be issued on 11 October 2024, while on 13 October María Dueñas will be performing live at the OPUS KLASSIK awards ceremony, which will be televised by German broadcaster ZDF.

“Paganini’s 24 Caprices are a milestone for every violinist,” explains Dueñas, when asked about her choice of repertoire. “I grew up listening to and performing them, and when we hear the word ‘caprice’ we instantly think of Paganini, but there are so many other caprices, from Saint-Saëns’s Rondo capriccioso to works by contemporary composers like Cervelló, for example. I really wanted to show how a lot of little moments from the musical world all come together.”

As she notes, Paganini wrote the Caprices as technical studies and exercises – for himself and his fellow professionals. “They provide a good way to work on concentrated techniques, both for the left hand and for the bowing arm – ricochet, staccato, spiccato… every little detail is there.” In addition to virtuosic technique, however, these works reflect the times in which they were written, when bel canto opera was at its height. “I’ve tried to show that vocal quality in the Caprices,” comments Dueñas. “These are concert works today, so we need to reveal the music behind the technique. And because it took Paganini more than 15 years to finish the set, I also think it should be approached like a journey through someone’s life, with lots happening, developing and growing.”

The second part of the album presents a mixture of solo, chamber and orchestral caprices. One of the solo works is the late Jordi Cervelló’s Milstein Caprice, written for Dueñas, whose sound reminded the composer of  that of Nathan Milstein. “I’m proud to include a work by a fellow countryman, and I hope to be able to bring his soul back with my music,” says the violinist. Another composer with whom Dueñas has worked closely is Gabriela Ortiz, and here she and pianist Alexander Malofeev present the world premiere recording of Ortiz’s De Cuerda y Madera. This work was co-commissioned by DG and the :alpenarte Festival, where it will be premiered by Dueñas on 12 October 2024.

The violinist is also delighted to have recorded Wieniawski’s Étude-Caprice for two violins with Boris Kuschnir; Sarasate’s Caprice basque with pianist Itamar Golan; and Kreisler’s Caprice viennois, in an arrangement for violin and guitar, with fellow DG artist Raphaël Feuillâtre – “I found many similarities between the colours of the two instruments and I think it will be interesting for the audience to discover the piece in a different light.”

For the orchestral works by Berlioz and Saint-Saëns, Dueñas was joined by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and conductor Mihhail Gerts. While she has known Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo capriccioso most of her life, having grown up with the Heifetz recording, the composer’s Caprice andalous was a new discovery. She was thrilled to find that the orchestra and conductor immediately understood both works’ Spanish flavour, enabling an intimate and mutually supportive collaboration in this sometimes fiery, sometimes lyrical, but always virtuosic repertoire for violin and orchestra.

“A caprice offers a huge range of colours and dynamics and there’s also a sense of improvisation,” concludes Dueñas. “It means more than technical fireworks. It’s about rhapsodic freedom, colour and creativity – everything that helps to make the violin such a bewitching instrument.”

María Dueñas plays the Nicolò Gagliano violin of 17?4 and the Stradivarius “Camposelice” of 1710, generously loaned by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben and Nippon Music Foundation respectively.

María Dueñas – key dates (full touring details here):

12 October – :alpenarte Festival, Schwarzenberg (feat. world premiere of Gabriela Ortiz’s De Cuerda y Madera)
13 October – OPUS KLASSIK awards ceremony, Konzerthaus Berlin
15 October – Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin (Szymanowski, Ortiz, Franck)
22 October – Carnegie Hall, New York (Szymanowski, Ortiz, Franck)
3 November – Royal Festival Hall, London, with the Philharmonia Orchestra & Santtu-Matias Rouvali (Sibelius)

Tour with the Wiener Symphoniker

19/20 November – Musikverein, Vienna (Bruch)
22 November – Liederhalle, Stuttgart (Beethoven) · 23 November – Konzerthaus, Freiburg (Beethoven)
24 November – Isarphilharmonie, Munich (Bruch) · 26 November – Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg (Beethoven)
27 November – Philharmonie, Cologne (Bruch) · 29 November – Hannover Congress Centrum (Beethoven)