Capriccio Diabolico

Here are several wonderful renditions of one of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s greatest guitar works, Capriccio Diabolico (Omaggio a Paganini), Op.85. Written over the course of five days in 1935, Capriccio Diabolico was commissioned by Andrés Segovia and, after much back and forth with Castelnuovo-Tedesco, was finally published following Segovia’s version in 1939. However, there are letters indicating that Castelnuovo-Tedesco was unhappy with the changes and had hoped for other guitarists to see the score before publication. There are now published versions of both. Segovia’s seems to be the most widely played simply because it has been around for longer and is what most guitarists have grown up listening to but there are guitarists choosing to follow the original manuscript published by Ricordi and edited by Angelo Gilardino and Luigi Biscaldi. Below are some of the finest concert guitarists playing both versions.