The other Paganini concerto: the first, in D major. Or E-flat, depending on whom you ask. Paganini wrote the orchestra in E-flat and the solo part in D, then tuned his violin up a semitone. The fingers play in an easy key, and the strings ring brighter.

The finale is a rondo, Allegro spiritoso. It’s cute: the tune is as catchy as every Paganini tune, and the violin keeps leaving it to do something unreasonable, like ricochet, harmonics, or a dash to the top of the fingerboard. Then it comes back as if nothing happened.

My favorite is Perlman with Lawrence Foster and the Royal Philharmonic, and the recording is honestly bad. He’s out of tune in places, and it sounds like takes were stitched together, with the room changing under you mid-phrase. But the playing is grown-up. Most violinists play this movement like an exam. Perlman dances it, like he passed years ago.

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