Ruders writes: There's a solid tradition in the history of Western music of turning the theme of Nicolo Paganini's "24th Caprice" for soloviolin into a set of variations endemic to the time and style of each individual composer, Liszt, Brahms, Rachmaninov and Lutoslawsky being the most prominent names. When asked by David Starobin to write a concerto for him, I though "well, why not have a go at it?" - bearing in mind, that not only is Paganini the most celebrated violin-wizard of all times, bu...