OUT NOW | VC Artist Sergey Malov's New "Paganini" Album 

Released on the Solo Musica label, Malov performs all 24 Paganini caprices and two improvisatory pieces of his own inspired by the composer

“It’s the greatest challenge for any violinist,” VC Artist Sergey Malov told The Violin Channel on recording the caprices. “It requires decades to reach the performance of all 24 of the caprices, to achieve the ease of playing them, and to make something of music.”

A violin, viola, and violoncello da spalla virtuoso, Malov recently won the Solo Recording Instrument category of this year’s OPUS Klassik awards for his 2020 CD, “Bach 6 Suites for Violoncello Solo.”

In 2014, Malov recorded six of Paganini’s 24 caprices for his 2016 album “Hommage to Paganini.” Since then, Malov told us he progressed with the pieces and gained greater freedom. In recording the caprices this time, he felt he had more fun playing the full set. 

Bookending the final Paganini caprice are two short compositions by Malov, the "Paganini-Collage" and "Ad Libitum Rock." The former summarizes all the caprices that came before and prepares the listener for Caprice No. 24. For "Ad Libitum Rock," Malov performs Caprice No. 5 on his electric violin, explaining that this caprice is often used by rock-guitarists as their showpiece.

NICCOLÒ PAGANINI | SOLO VIOLIN CAPRICE NO. 5 | SERGEY MALOV | 2019

“From Paganini’s biography we know that he improvised a lot,” Malov told us. In keeping with this, he aimed to perform some of the caprices with improvisatory freedom.

For this album, he enjoyed the freedom of taking his time caring about each note and trying out new techniques. “Paganini’s 24 caprices for solo violin are a very special and unique kind of music,” Malov said. He hopes that his performance of each caprice will prompt listeners to hear the following one on the album.

To listen to and purchase the album, click here.

Malov is a graduate of Mozarteum University Salzburg and Berlin’s “Hanns Eisler” University of Music, where he studied with Thomas Riebl, Antje Weithaas, Eberhard Feltz, and Andreas Schreiber. 

A former first-prize winner at the Michael Hill, Salzburg Mozart, and Tokyo Viola international competitions, Malov was later appointed to a faculty position at Switzerland's Zurich University of the Arts and joined the roster of Weigold and Böhm International Artists.