Salvatore Accardo’s latest recordings of Paganini’s Violin Concerto in E minor (sometimes known as No. “0” but more usually listed as No. 6) and Concerto No. 2 in B minor (“La Campanella”) occupy the second volume of this new EMI Italy survey of the concertos by the fabled Genoese master. Accardo plays solo and also directs the Orchestra da Camera Italiana–no mean feat when you consider the mind-numbing technical demands on the violinist. But these disappointing accounts merely confirm that Accardo is no longer the great fiddler he used to be.
Of the two works included here, it’s the more familiar second (known as “La Campanella” due to the bell-like effects used in its rondo finale) that receives the better performance. The posthumously published E minor work sounds stale and lifeless, with worrying flaws in both solo and orchestral playing. The Italian Chamber Orchestra is a rough-sounding band. Ensemble playing, particularly among the first violins, is insecure, and there are numerous intonation lapses along with a fatal tendency to rush. Accardo no longer has the exemplary technique and imaginative musicianship that lent extraordinary distinction to his earlier Paganini cycle with Dutoit and the London Philharmonic, taped in the mid-1970s and newly reissued in DG’s Collectors Edition series. It’s still the best complete survey available–and the new transfers sound very good indeed, so you needn’t bother to investigate EMI’s newcomer.
