Fantasy on a Theme from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le Coq d’Or

Efrem Zimbalist - who is not to be confused with his once ubiquitous film-actor son Efrem Zimablist Jr - was one of the most respected violinists of his time. A pupil of Leopold Auer, he was always a distinctive representative of the Russian school of violin-playing in spite of his long-term residence in the USA as a naturalised American citizen. He was also a composer but, in spite of some success in the 1940s and ‘50s, h is likely to be remembered not so much for that as for his influence in producing generations of distinguished violinists during his forty years as a teacher at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia.

The one work which by Efrem Zimbalist Sr that has any kind of currency at present, not least as a test piece in competitions, is his Fantasy on a Theme from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Le Coq d’Or, which has outshone other virtuoso pieces like his Carmen Fantasy and his Sarasateana, not to mention his operas and large-scale orchestral works. It deserves its place in the repertoire not only because of its brilliant and highly attractive violin writing but also because of its resourceful and witty treatment of themes (not just one as the title misleadingly suggests) from Rimsky-Korsakov’s last opera. Beginning, like the opera, with the crowing theme that so vividly identifies the Golden Cockerel, it incorporates at an early stage the chromatic and sensuously exotic line associated with the seductive Queen of Shemakha. The lovely melody in which the violin luxuriates at some length towards the middle of the piece is the Queen’s celebrated Hymn to the Sun and the brisk dance-like tune that follows it, after a preliminary display of its characteristic rhythm on the piano, is another of her themes. So the allusions go on, the violin ever more vigorous in its display of technical prowess but never sacrificing musical sense for empty gestures, until the Fantasy ends, like the opera, with a reminder of the cock crow.

Gerald Larner©