Biddulph continues
its excellent job of Francescatti reclamation.
These three sonata recordings pre-date
the well-known LP cycle made by the
two Frenchmen and are instead from earlier
in the LP age – in fact the Kreutzer
was simultaneously one of the first
LPs and one of the last of American
Columbia’s 78s. They are full of the
violinist’s suavity and impeccable technical
address, combined with a sweet and ravishingly
multi-dimensional tone. His duo with
Casadesus is formidable and was of some
standing when they came to record the
Kreutzer in 1949 and two of Op.30 in
1953.
One of the first warnings
I should make is that Columbia’s balance
is, improbably for a duo of this kind,
heavily weighted (in the case of the
two Op.30 sonatas) very much in favour
of the pianist. His left hand broadsides
are strong enough to sink a pocket battleship.
Also the recording is bass heavy and
boomy – play these two at a low-ish
level or your relationship with your
neighbours will plummet, as will your
hearing. That said we have constant
musical perception on offer and some
of the violinist’s personalised traits.
He is inclined to be somewhat tremulous
in the C minor – doubtless for expressive
reasons in this of all sonatas but even
in the slow movement his vibrato can
be rapid. The Scherzo doesn’t quite
work in this performance mainly because
of balance problems but there’s fine,
crisp rhythm in the finale. The companion
three movement Sonata in G opens in
bubbly, affirmative style and if the
Minuetto opens sounding rather fast
(it’s marked ma molto moderato e
grazioso after all) it soon settles
down and is certainly elegant. There’s
plenty of humour in the finale not least
from the imperturbable Casadesus.
The earlier 1949 Kreutzer
suffers attendant problems and should
also be played at a low level – if you
crank up the volume you hear a mush
of what I take to be LP noise or residual
noise from the 78 masters when they
were used to transfer to LP. The piano
also sounds tubby in the bass. But the
balance between instruments is more
just here and we open with the crystalline
clarity of Francescatti’s opening statement
and the fine duo playing of these two
finished musicians. There’s a lot of
inner detail audible in a performance
of this kind, one that fuses Old World
elegance (expressive portamenti, tonal
shading) with New World precision and
digital finesse. Francescatti employs
one or two luscious portamenti in the
variations second movement - unexpectedly
as well, not quite where I thought he’d
make them, which is as it should be
– and never sounds too fast or superficial.
I think however it is fair to say that,
for all their elegance, culture and
persuasiveness, this isn’t the most
"inner" performance of the
Kreutzer.
Still no original release
details from Biddulph, though they’re
much better now on exact recording dates.
Neat typography need not invalidate
this kind of essential detail. Eric
Wen’s notes concentrate on the music
much more than the performers even though
the fiddler’s name dwarfs that of the
composer on the booklet cover. These
three recordings have been unavailable
for decades; don’t confuse them with
the later cycle. Even with the attendant
aural problems they are very much worth
hearing.
Jonathan Woolf
Zino Francescatti (violin) 
