Zino Francescatti really came into his own as a recording artist during the 1950s, when he had settled in America. In that decade and during the 1960s he made many excellent records for CBS, and we remember him now for his Beethoven sonata series with Robert Casadesus, for instance, and highly regarded versions of the Beethoven, Brahms, Walton and Sibelius Concertos.
He was born in Marseilles during 1902. His Italian father had studied with Paganini's only acknowledged pupil, Camillo Sivori, and became leader of the Marseilles Symphony Orchestra. Zino's French mother was much younger than her husband, and Francescatti senior taught her the violin. Zino studied with his parents, but had no other teacher.
In 1922 a friend who ran a music shop recommended Francescatti to French HMV. Technicians and pre-electric recording apparatus were sent to Marseilles and records of several short pieces materialized. In the following year Francescatti and HMV repeated a similar exercise, and that was the end of the matter until 1928, by which time the young violinist was making his mark in Paris. His first electric recordings comprised two pieces by Kreisler, and the attractive Sonatina rustica by Vincenzo Davico.
There's no doubt that Francescatti's bright but rounded tone suited the acoustic recording horn, and his immaculate technique is also very much in evidence, even in the earliest recordings. It's clear, too, that as a teenager he already had a natural sense of style, and his phrasing has a pleasing eloquence. Until we reach the Drdla ''Capriccio'' most of the items are designed to please rather than stimulate, and the musical content is often rather slight, but when he gets the chance Francescatti shows plenty of virtuosity. The original records are all pretty rare, but copies by and large are in good condition, and transfers are good. The short but informative insert-note is by Francescatti himself. A disc for violin fanciers only, I feel.'