New Francescatti Transfer, Plus a Seasonal Bonus

Here is a new transfer of a recording presented on this blog several years ago. I did the recording on request - forgetting about my earlier effort.

Well, this transfer is better, so it's worth a listen for those interested.

The three principal artists on the record all have been featured here several times before - violinist Zino Francescatti and conductors Dimitri Mitropoulos and Eugene Ormandy. The program includes the music of Édouard Lalo and Henri Vieuxtemps.

Zino Francescatti

These are among the finest Francescatti recordings I know. He is entirely in his element in the music of the Frenchman Lalo and the Belgian Vieuxtemps. His gorgeous tone is projected confidently and his control is absolute. Columbia's vivid recordings place him upfront, providing an exceptional sense of his sweet tone and forthright approach - although the sound in the Vieuxtemps is a shade too bright for my taste.

Francescatti performs Vieuxtemps's Concerto No. 4 with the support of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Ormandy. As far as I can tell, the recording, which dates from April 1957, was mono only, and has not been reissued. This concerto is not often played nowadays, which is a shame. It's a fine work.

Francescatti and Eugene Ormandy

The violinist is supported by the New York Philharmonic under Mitropoulos in Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, also recorded in April 1957. As was common 60 years ago, Francescatti omits the central Intermezzo movement of the five-part suite. This is the mono incarnation of a performance that later was issued in stereo in tandem with the Walton concerto.

The download includes a review of the Vieuxtemps from High Fidelity and a round-up review of Lalo recordings from Stereo Review.

Bonus - A Miracle on Cricket Avenue

David Federman has provided another welcome compilation, the third in his "Cozy Covid Christmas" series. This one, called "Miracle on Cricket Avenue," is a typically wide-ranging exploration of 20th century seasonal music. The 27-selection playlist contains everything from Fats Waller to the Miracles to a Rimsky-Korsakov overture. David's notes are in the download. See the comments for a link.

Chausson from Francescatti, Casadesus, Guilet Quartet

The Chausson Concert for Piano, Violin and String Quartet is one of the great masterpieces of French Romanticism. Today we have a sterling rendition from some of the finest French instrumentalists of a later generation.

In this latest addition to my series of recordings by Zino Francescatti, the violinist is joined by pianist Robert Casadesus and the Guilet Quartet (at the time, Daniel Guilet and Bernard Robbins, violins, Emanuel Vardi, viola, Benar Heifetz, cello).

Francescatti and Casadesus

The cover announces that the record was released to mark the 100th anniversary of Chausson's 1855 birth. The sessions actually occurred in December 1954 in Columbia's 30th Street Studio, New York.

Francescatti and Casadesus often performed together and are at one in this well-recorded performance.

Francescatti in Lalo and Vieuxtemps

Here is the second installment in my series devoted to the French violinist Zino Francescatti. Reader Alan Cooper suggested this particular recording, noting that Columbia and its successor companies have never offered a CD reissue of the violinist's traversal of the Vieuxtemps Concerto No. 4.

I am happy to oblige Alan, because the Vieuxtemps performance is superb. It displays Francescatti's spectacular technique, which is all the more remarkable for seeming so nonchalant. The fine support here is by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy. The sessions were in the Broadwood Hotel in April 1957.

Zino Francescatti and Eugene Ormandy

That's not to say that the coupling, Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, is any less impressive in this performance with the New York Philharmonic and Dimitri Mitropoulos, dating from April 1957 and Columbia's 30th Street Studio. Here, Francescatti chooses the truncated version of the work that was then the norm, omitting the central Intermezzo. This was his second recording of the Lalo work; the first was in 1946 with André Cluytens and a Parisian orchestra.

My transfer is from the original mono pressing, which has excellent sound. The Lalo was later issued in stereo, as a coupling for the Walton concerto, but I don't have that LP. To my perhaps deficient knowledge, the Vieuxtemps has never seen a stereo release.

Francescatti in Bach and Prokofiev, Plus Reups

One of the great 20th century violinists who tends to be overlooked these days is the subject of today's post - the elegant Frenchman Zino Francescatti (1902-81).

It's not clear why Francescatti has been forgotten by some - his skill and artistry were and are unquestioned. I have always suspected it might have something to do with the diminutive he used as a first name: "Zino" in place of his given name, René-Charles. How can you be taken seriously with such a silly name, eh?

Whatever the reason for his eclipse, the present coupling should convince you that he was a transcendent artist. It is a coupling of the second Prokofiev concerto, taped in October 1952 with the New Yorkers under Dimitri Mitropoulos, and Bach's E major concerto, recorded the following January with the Clevelanders and George Szell. (The cover says the latter group is the "Columbia Symphony," but the recording was in Severance Hall with its resident band.)

Francescatti and Mitropoulos listen to a playback

I admit some bias about Francescatti - his recordings introduced me to several of the standard-repertoire concertos when I was young. I plan to transfer some of his other early LPs as time goes by.

Reups

Jane Froman - With a Song in My Heart. Issued in conjunction with the 1952 biopic of the radio singer, with fine singing by Froman herself. This is the only LP among the reups; the items below are from my companion singles blog.

Lauritz Melchior. Two sentimental songs ("Ave Maria" and "The Rosary") by the heldentenor, whom M-G-M was trying to turn into both a movie star and a pop singer. Neither effort took hold.

Patty Andrews. A good 1952 single ("I'll Walk Alone" and "That's the Chance You Take") by the solo voice of the Andrews Sisters.

Ralph Flanagan - Top Pops. The Flanagan big band takes on some hits of the day, circa 1953-54, in this EP.

The Barkleys of Broadway. Transfers and scans from the original 1948 78 set derived from the soundtrack of the last Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film.

Waltzes by Richard Strauss and Tchaikovsky - Philadelphia/Ormandy. A circa 1954 EP coupling the Rosenkavalier Waltzes with the waltz from the Serenade for Strings. The orchestral playing here is near miraculous. Cover by the quirky Jim Flora.

The links above lead to the original posts. Download links to all items are in the comments. The Froman LP and Ormandy EP have been remastered.