'Till End Of Time - Florain ZaBach

 

Ain't Misbehavin'

Till The End Of Time

Played and Conducted by Florian ZaBach

Photo by Don Bronstein

Mercury Records MG 20305

1958

From the back cover: I the popular music field, a successful violinist is about as common as an elephant with a ballet troupe.

So the undeniable success of Florian ZaBach is worth looking into.

When you listen to this album,  you'll get a rough idea of what makes him click. ZaBach makes a violin talk – or sing. Every note has meaning. He can produce sounds that are happy sounds or blue sounds, gay sounds and sad sounds.

Just as it take two to tango, it also takes two to make a violinist – the musician and the violin. ZaBach and his violin are a team. He owns a truly magnificent instrument – a 225 year-old Guarnerius. He bought it in 1953, plucking down $75,000 for it. (Even as you and I, he arranged for time payments – spreading them over a 20-year period.) It was made in Cremona, Italy in the year 1732 by Joseph Guarnerius, an artist that some violinists, including ZaBach, consider to be a better violin-maker than Stradivari. And it was once used by the famous virtuoso, Paganini.

"It has soul," say ZaBach.

So you have a violin with soul and a violinist who can make that soul come alive in the ZaBach-Guarnerius duet.

And the results is obvious on this latest album. In the 12 standards that he plays here, he runs the gamut of emotion. He uses the violin like a voice, sometimes singing joyously, sometimes crooning softly, sometimes torching out notes like a blues singer.

Till The End Of Time

The Very Thought Of You

My Blue Heaven

I Married An Angel

The Waltz You Saved For Me

Ain't Misbehavin'

Tenderly

Lovely To Look At

Cuddle Up A Little Closer

I Can't Give You Anything But Love

Anniversary Waltz

When Your Hair Has Turned To Silver