The first of two programmes on the legendary violinist. Paganini exploited the violin in an unprecedented way. His career was a turning point in the history of virtuosity so that today much of his once astonishing technique is regarded as the virtuoso violinist's stock in trade. But to play the best of Paganini's compositions still requires almost superhuman agility. Perhaps not so well known is that Paganini was also a virtuoso of the guitar. In tonight's music documentary Ruggiero Ricci, one of the world's greatest exponents of Paganini's music, joins with John Williams (guitar) and the New Philharmonia Orchestra leader Raymond Cohen conducted by James Lockhart to illustrate some of the music that captivated and astonished audiences all over Europe.
With Malcolm Henderson (viola), Denis Nesbitt (cello)
Narrator Robert Anderson

(Next week: a telerecording of the first posthumous performance of Paganini's Third Violin Concerto in the Royal Festival Hall - broadcast live this evening on Radio 4, not Wales)
(Colour)