Zino Francescatti: A Treasury of Studio Recordings, 1931-1955 = var. performers – Music & Arts (3 CDs)

Zino Francescatti: A Treasury of Studio Recordings, 1931-1955 = CHAUSSON: Concerto in D Major for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, Op. 21; DEBUSSY: Sonata in G Minor; La fille aux cheveux de lin; Minstrels; RAVEL: Sonata; Faure: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Major, Op. 13; Sonata No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 108; VIEUXTEMPS: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 31; LALO: Symphonie Espagnole in D Minor, Op. 21; FRANCK: Sonata in A Major; RAVEL: Tzigane; Kaddish; Piece en forme de Habanera; Berceuse – Zino Francescatti, violin/ Robert Casadesus, piano/ Artur Balsam, piano (Ravel)/ Maurice Faure, piano (Tzigane)/ Max Lanner, piano (Debussy preludes)/Guilet String Quartet/ Le Grand Orchestre Symphonique Columbia/Andre Cluytens (Lalo)/ Philadelphia Orchestra/ Eugene Ormandy (Vieuxtemps) – Music & Arts CD-1260 (3 CDs), 75:42; 72:58; 77:12 [Distr. by Naxos] ****:
Zino Francescatti (1902-1991) for many connoisseurs of the violin represented the most sumptuously refreshing exponent of the Gallic school of the art, especially as Francescatti’s approach absorbed from his father Fortunato, Bazzini, and Sevori the Italian line of cantilena established as prime in the fingering and bowing style of Paganini. Francescatti possessed one of the most hypnotic violin tones, not particularly “intellectual” as we find in Heifetz or Szigeti, but gracious, even luscious, and always urged forth in perfect taste. Quite capable and fully energetic in the more bravura masterworks by Prokofiev, Sibelius, Walton, and Paganini, Francescatti eschewed exhibitionism for security and vocal polish in his playing, expressive and emotionally sincere.
Francescatti performed comfortably in both chamber music and concert hall media, attested to by his many fine examples of French chamber music in collaboration with veteran pianist Robert Casadesus (1899-1972), with whom he inscribed many of the major works of Franck, Faure, and Debussy. Unfortunately, Francescatti did not warm to the D Minor Sonata of Saint-Saens, so its early promulgation fell to Heifetz. But the 1891 Chausson ‘Concert’ for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet (1 December 1954) finds a passionately architectural rendition from Francescatti, Casadesus, and the string players led by violinist Daniel Guilet. A kind of concertante duo, the work combines Wagner’s chromaticism with archaic procedures, like parallel octaves and plagal cadences, to produce a personal doxology that allures one with its sensuously melodic tissue. The Franck Violin Sonata (7 May 1947) exudes another sort of passion, erotically mystical and robustly lyrical, at once. Nothing effeminate in those lusty block chords and runs from Casadesus in the Allegro molto. And the final movement canon, Rondo: Allegro gains enough emotional momentum to quite overwhelm us with Franck’s grandly cyclic gestures.
The  earliest recording, Ravel’s Tzigane (20 April 1931) with pianist Faure projects the same fiery abandon—a blistering gypsy rendition that likely had the full appreciation of the composer, whom he had accompanied in 1920, along with singer Maggie Teyte. Chronologically, Francescatti’s next inscriptions come from sessions with Max Lanner (12 April 1946) of two transcriptions of Debussy preludes, The Girl with the Flaxen Hair and Minstrels, both arranged by Hartmann and as endemic to Francescatti as they were to Heifetz. The Debussy Sonata with Robert Casadesus (26 April 1946) precedes the collaboration in Paris on the Lalo Symphonie Espagnole with Cluytens (28 November 1946)—the former a fluid performance that belies the work’s underlying oppositions in meter and articulation, since like Ravel, Debussy envisioned the violin and piano as aesthetic adversaries.  The last movement Finale, particularly, seems to start anew several times, offering diverse conclusions. The Lalo Francescatti performed only in its curtailed four-movement form, omitting the Intermezzo. A vivacious and aggressive performance, the reading with Cluytens pales slightly against Francescatti’s later collaboration with Mitropoulos in New York.
The bulk of the recordings of Ravel derive from the session 11 January 1955, in which Francescatti teamed with Hungarian piano virtuoso and pedagogue Artur Balsam (1906-1994). The LP version on CBS (ML 5058) became a classic of its kind, offering the Violin Sonata, Kaddish, the Berceuse (on the name of Gabriel Faure), and Piece en forme de Habanera. Despite having met Ravel through the efforts of violin master Jacques Thibaud, Thibaud himself did not record Ravel’s music.  Francescatti imbues Ravel with an alternately gypsy, Spanish, and Hebraic flair, as required. Anyone who ever worked with Artur Balsam describes him consistently as an “uncanny” musician capable of brilliantly sight-reading anything. Last, we have the D Minor Concerto of Henri Vieuxtemps (14 April 1954) with Eugene Ormandy, in his best role, as accompanist to a fine soloist with the luscious support of the Philadelphia Orchestra. This recording (from CBS LP ML 5184) formed the second side to the Lalo with Mitropoulos. In four movements, the Concerto allows Francescatti a broad spectrum of colors, not the least of which are a moving Adagio religioso and blistering Scherzo, the latter marked by crisp spiccati while the former projects that firm singing line supported by Francescatti’s idiosyncratic vibrato and exemplary, warm tone. These performances have been too long away from the active catalogue not to seize the day.
—Gary Lemco