12 Face Melting Violin Solos
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) composed and worked as a jazz pianist - his concert music combines elements of blues, classical, jazz, and spirituals in what can only be called a uniquely American sound
Randall Goosby
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: Louisiana Blues Strut
2. The 24 Caprices for Solo Violin were written by Niccolò Paganini between 1802 and 1817. No 9 represents a hunting party, the A and E strings imitate flutes, G and D strings imitate horns. the chase is represented by double stop runs and ricochet bowing
Augustin Hadelich
Paganini Caprice no. 9
3. Eighty years before Paganini, Locatelli’s capriccios for solo violin were originally written as cadences to to be performed between movements of violin concertos, but may be performed as stand alone pieces
Mariya Nesterovska
Locatelli - Capriccio No 1 for Violin Solo
4. The sonatas and partitas for solo violin are a set of six works composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in the 18th century. Today, they are a foundational part of the violin repertoire and performed often.
Hillary Hahn
J.S. Bach: Partita for Violin Solo No. 1 in B Minor Tempo di Borea – Double
5. Eugène Ysaÿe's Six Sonatas for solo violin, Op. 27, was written in 1923. Each sonata was dedicated to one of his contemporaries. No 4 was dedicated to Fritz Kreisler
Kerson Leong
Ysaÿe: Solo Violin Sonata No. 4 - Allemande
6. Erwin Schulhoff, whose nearly 200 compositions include the Sonata for solo violin is dated January 1927. It includes this rhythmically driving first movement
Alexi Kenney
Schulhoff Sonata for Solo Violin 1st Movement
7. Violinist Yehudi Menuhin commissioned a work for solo violin from Bartók in 1943. Bartók finished composing it in 1944 after agreeing to make the Sonata easier to play
Kevin Zhu
Béla Bartók Sonata in G minor op. 115 Sz. 117
8. The Sonata for Solo Violin Opus 115, is a three-movement work for violin composed by Sergei Prokofiev in 1947. It was commissioned by the Soviet Union's Committee of Arts Affairs as a pedagogical work for talented violinists
Anthony Marwood
Prokofiev - Sonata for Solo Violin in D Major, Op. 115
9. Penderecki (1933-2020) was a Polish composer of the late 20th century - He garnered fame from his striking avant-garde works - ''Capriccio'' (2008) for solo violin is a modern encore piece for the fearless
Jennifer Pike
Penderecki Capriccio
10. Impressions d'enfance is a suite for violin written by George Enescu and completed in 1940 - The score is dedicated to his first violin teacher, Eduard Caudella and includes 10 short movements
Coco Tomita
George Enescu Ménétrier
11. Stomp by John Corigliano premiered in 2015 - influenced by Bach’s Chaconne and borrows from bluegrass and jazz - the violin's outer strings are tuned to non-standard pitches giving a unique tonal sound to the frenetic passages
David Horvat
John Corigliano - Stomp
12. Hindemtih was a German-American violinist, violist, composer and conductor. He embarked to write sonatas for every instrument in the 1920’s resulting in 6 neoclassical violin pieces
Sumina Studer
P. Hindemith - Solo Sonata Op. 11 No. 6