Music Guide[ZT]: Banjo and Fiddle is the best-known work by American violinist, teacher, and chamber music player William Kroll (1901-1980). This virtuoso piece, strongly influenced by traditional American styles of folk fiddle playing, was popularized by regular inclusion in the recitals of Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Kreisler. Opening with a series of banjo-like pizzicato chords over a "romp-till ready" style accompaniment, the violinist soon launches into the main theme, set in a characteristic popular idiom. There is a dreamily reflective passage midway through, but for the greater part, this is a spirited and energetic virtuoso miniature that exploits multiple stopping and ricochet bowing techniques, often at very rapid speeds. Banjo and Fiddle is particularly effective as an encore piece, and hence it perfectly fit the bill for the "lollipops" featured after more heavyweight fare during Heifetz's recitals. Kroll himself was no mean fiddler, either. Born in New York, he studied with Henri Marteau in Berlin before making his successful U.S. debut in 1915. Kroll learned his trade as a quartet leader under Franz Kneisel and became first violinist of the Coolidge Quartet in 1936. He also traveled widely as a soloist, devoting much of his life to teaching before founding his own quartet in 1944. In his late sixties, he formed a duo partnership with Artur Balsam, but Kroll is chiefly remembered for this one delightful and entertaining piece
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