Description

EFREM ZIMBALIST (ROSTOV-ON-DON, RUSSIA, APRIL 21, 1889 – RENO, NEVADA, U.S., FEBRUARY 22, 1985)

 

 

 

 

He was a concert violinist, composer, teacher, conductor and director of the Curtis Institute of Music. Zimbalist was born in the southwestern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, the son of Jewish parents Maria (née Litvinoff) and Aron Zimbalist, who was a conductor. By the age of nine, Efrem Zimbalist was first violin in his father’s orchestra. At age 12 he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and studied under Leopold Auer. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1907 after winning a gold medal and the Rubinstein Prize, and by age 21 was considered one of the world’s greatest violinists. After graduation he debuted in Berlin (playing the Brahms Concerto) and London in 1907 and in the United States in 1911, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1912, he played the Glazunov Concerto in a concert marking Leopold Stokowski’s first appearance with the London Symphony Orchestra. He then settled in the United States. He did much to popularize the performance of early music. In 1917, he was elected as an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music, by the fraternity’s Alpha Chapter at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He retired as a violinist in 1949, but returned in 1952 to give the first performance of the Violin Concerto by Gian Carlo Menotti, which is dedicated to him. He retired again in 1955. He served as a juror of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1962 and 1966. In 1928, Zimbalist began teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He was director of the school from 1941 to 1968. His pupils included such distinguished musicians as Aaron Rosand,Oscar Shumsky, Joseph Silverstein, Jascha Brodsky, John Dalley, Michael Tree, Felix Slatkin, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Harold Wippler, Leonid Bolotine, and Hidetaro Suzuki. His own compositions include a violin concerto, the American Rhapsody, a tone poem called Daphnis and Chloe, a Fantasy on themes from The Golden Cockerel by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and a piece called Sarasateana, for violin and piano. He also wrote an opera, Landara, which premiered in Philadelphia in 1956. Zimbalist married the famous American soprano Alma Gluck and they toured together for a time. Alma Gluck died in 1938. In 1943, having been a widower for five years, he married the Curtis Institute of Music’s founder, Mary Louise Curtis Bok, daughter of publisher Cyrus Curtis, and 14 years his senior. He died in 1985, at the age of 95. His and Alma’s son, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and their granddaughter, Stephanie Zimbalist, both became popular actors.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Air on the G string (Bach-Wilhelmj) with Theodore Saidenberg (piano) Columbia 50289-D W98737 3-5-1931 New York

Ave Maria (Schubert-Wilhelmj) with Emanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 50090-D W98560 6-28-1928 New York,

Burleska (Suk) with Emanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 2191-D W149721 12-12-1929 New York

Carmen Fantasie (Bizet, arr. Sarasate) with Theodore Saidenberg (piano) Columbia W38 55086, W38 55087

Impromptu (Aulin) with Emanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 50090-D W98562 6-28-1928 New York

Improvisation on a Japanese tune (Zimbalist) with Emmanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 2110-D W149718 12-12-1929 New York

Kuruka Kuruka (Yamada) with Emanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 2110-D W149717 12-12-1929 New York

Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner) Prize song with Theodore Saidenberg (piano) Columbia 50289-D W98738 3-5-1931 New York

Millions d’Arlequin (Drigo) Sérénade with Emanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 56102-D W98567 6-29-1928 New York

Millions d’Arlequin (Drigo) Valse bluette with Emanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 5314 146918 8-28-1928

Orientale (Cui) with Emanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 2125-M W146919 8-29-1928 New York

Romance No. 1 in G major, op. 40 (Beethoven) Columbia 68596-D 55004, 68596-D 55005 1931-02-01 Japan Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Nicolai Shiferblatt

Tallahassee After sundown (Scott) with Emanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 167-M W146917 8-28-1928 New York

The zephyr (Hubay) with Emanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 5314 146917 8-28-1928 New York

Träumerei (Schumann) with Theodore Saidenberg (piano) Columbia DB 1701 200207 1932

Valse bluette (Drigo-Auer) Columbia 2125-M W146918 8-28-1928 New York

Violin Concerto no 3 in G minor (Hubay) Scherzo & Adagio with Emmanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 50297-D, 50297-D, W98735, W98736 3-5-1931 New York

Zapateado (Sarasate) with Emmanuel Bay (piano) Columbia 50102-D 98561 6-28-1928 New York

Zigeunerweisen (Sarasate) with Theodore Saidenberg (piano) Columbia 88082 A W 95 1936

 

Brahms Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, op.108
19 May 1930; US Columbia 67786/88-D (set 140) (W 98693/98)

I Allegro 
II Adagio 
III Un poco presto e con sentimento 
IV Presto agitato