Football fans, playalong a Paganini

David K. Nelson says:

For whatever reason I’ve never thought of Frank Peter Zimmermann as a fire-breathing Paganini player. I doubt if much else in his repertoire calls for that pizzicato trill! On balance it’s very nicely done.

There is a funny recording on the One-Eleven label of Ruggiero Ricci playing this “live” in, I think, Hong Kong. He announces “here is one for the Queen’s birthday” and launches in. The audience laughs on hearing the tune and, somewhat related to the recent topic on audience silence, either laughs at or applauds nearly every variation. I recall reading that Ricci developed his left hand pizzicato by reclining in bed as a boy and just picking out tunes with the left hand.