About this program, Benjamin Schmid in the booklet to his birthday release at OehmsClassics: “My favorite pieces, albeit usually in the versions by the incomparably ingenious arranger Fritz Hreisler, are: Paganini’s greatest hit during his lifetime: Le streghe, coupled to Rossini’s Non piu mesta, music of acrobatic virtuosity, always linked to filigree sensitivity. Paganini’s bel canto Cantabile must be included, as must his moving Sonata XII or the popular La Campanella. They are side by side with Milstein’s Paganiniana- still one of my most frequent encores- or the classic Devil’s Trill Sonata by Tartini. Alexander Mullenbach’s Capriccio forms bridge to virtuosity today.”
