Fantasy Variations on a Theme of Paganini

By Nicolo Paganini

This piece was flawlessly done by James Barnes...It has about 20+ variation of classic theme from Paganini...hard (especialy during the solo and soli part oboe+contrabass clarinet+alto sax+bass clarinet+cor anglais/english horn) and yet quite catchy theme.... might need a lot of effort to play...

this piece....everyone must contribute an excellent tone and balancing is very needed to complete this piece gloriously...good luck!!

As a student I performed this work in a festival band (first horn) and throughly enjoyed it. The beauty of the work is how the composer takes the original theme and not only expands it into multiplicity of contrasting segments, but he also manages to showcase ALL instrumental sections/families...

within the ensemble. Though the piece is overall a bit too long (20+ variations!) it is a fun and very educational piece for an advanced high school level wind ensemble. As an educational device in providing an example of the classic "theme and variations" form, Fantasy Variations provides a wonderful educational tool for all band conductors.