The first point worth making is that BIS’s recording of the featured Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ violin (Cremona, 1739) is extremely lifelike: this is one of those rare cases where the quality of the instrument comes across as vividly as the quality of the playing which, for the most part, is first-rate. Quite how Sueye Park manages to effect such a perfect blend of multiple-stops, especially in Caprice No 4 (in thirds), is anyone’s guess, but in doing so she counters the cliché of Paganini as devil with an alternative image of a seducer. The high parallel octaves at the start of No 15 are similarly persuasive, not to mention the D string drone in No 20.

In No 8, where she sustains a lower note while simultaneously playing a melody in a higher register (with more trills and double stops), again the effect is uncommonly smooth, while in No 18 the secure grip on the G string (in high positions) has an almost visceral effect. There’s also plenty of gritty attack in the up-bow staccato of the Caprice No 10 and the start of No 17, while the lyrical slant of No 11’s slower section is beautifully expressed. As to the wide stretches demanded for the reptilian No 12, Park makes these and other technical demands sound like mere child’s play. Just as remarkable is No 6, where the haunting single-line melody has an eerie, ever-changing tremolo for company.

On the other hand, judged by the very highest standards, some Caprices sound just a mite effortful: No 7, for example, with its lightning staccatos and consecutive octaves, which are more playful in the hands of, say, Itzhak Perlman (EMI/Warner, 6/72) or Thomas Zehetmair (ECM, 12/09). The opening of No 13 might have sounded more off-the-cuff, though the savage attack on the G string in No 19 is mightily impressive.

A most enjoyable disc, highly competitive, with informed and readable notes by Julian Haylock and Park herself.