These recordings form
the full extent of Francescatti’s Bach
recordings for American Columbia and
were made between 1950 and 1953. As
ever with this elite player they are
lyrically and technically impressive
performances that employ the full armoury
of romantic expression. In the Concerto
he has the support of George Szell and
the Cleveland Orchestra with their strongly
etched bass line and a rather distant
harpsichord. There are one or two brief
moments of unease from the soloist (listen
from 3.10 onwards) but these are passing
incidents and can’t impair his discreet
but pervasive lyricism in the second
movement. Here he proves a master of
romantic cantilena leavened by aristocratic
aloofness. The silvery elegance of the
finale fuses with strongly graded dynamics
- his attacks are softened by articulate
discretion.
The Partita in E (No.
3) is unmannered and elegant, once again,
though the Loure is decidedly slow.
That Francescatti sustains it is a tribute
to his powers of expressive elasticity
but the most fascinating playing comes
in the Minuet I where he makes the most
of internal contrasts through subtle
dialogue. In Minuet II he starts almost
senza vibrato, contrasting this with
his more opulent playing almost immediately,
and his Gigue finale is attractive without
quite seeming conclusive enough. The
Partita No. 2 in D sees him using meatier
vibrato in the Allemande opening movement
whereas the Sarabande is heroically
sustained and intense. He prepares for
the Chaconne by ending the preceding
Gigue on a long held note, intensely
vibrated. As for the Chaconne it is
enlivened by strong sforzati and Francescatti’s
singing tonal qualities. Though he takes
a good tempo the playing is violinistic
and not intellectual, with the result
that unlike, say, Grumiaux or Szigeti,
the rise and fall of the argument doesn’t
always develop with inexorable logic;
sometimes things tend to be paragraphal
and the solutions tend to be tangential.
There are a few imperfections but the
recording is close and one can hear
the strenuous bowing demands placed
upon the player. There’s also a horrible
edit on the original master at 4.30,
which Biddulph could do nothing about.
Francescatti re-recorded
the Concerto in 1971 (with No. 1 in
A) with Baumgartner and the Lucerne
Festival Strings but these were the
only commercial recordings of the two
Partitas- though he had recorded the
Preludio of the Partita in E back in
1946. The recordings sound well, inherent
master problems notwithstanding, and
Francescatti’s admirers will welcome
this rare-ish example of his Bach on
record.
Jonathan Woolf
Zino Francescatti (violin) 