Zino Francescatti composed his nine preludes for piano between 1919 and 1922 while still a student at the Marseilles Conservatory. They reveal a deft touch, the influence of Debussy and Ravel strongly evident. The ever-admirable Noel Lee surveys them most beautifully. All the remaining items feature Francescatti-pupil Gaetane Prouvost, whose contribution is perhaps neither as consistently alluring nor as congenially captured by the microphones as one might wish (she suffers from an impossibly close balance in the violin and piano items). For Francescatti die-hards only, I feel.R1 '9806101'