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Judd Eisenhauer
Pablo Casals: A Legendary Cellist and His Legacy
Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was one of the most influential and celebrated cellists of the 20th century. He was renowned for his expressive and virtuosic playing, his profound interpretation of Bach's cello suites, and his advocacy for peace and human rights. He also left behind a rich and diverse discography that spans over five decades and covers various genres and composers.
One of the most comprehensive collections of his recordings is "Pablo Casals - The Complete Published EMI Recordings (1926-1955) (2009, 9CDBox Set) (LOSSLESS)", which was released by EMI Classics in 2009. This box set contains 9 CDs with 153 tracks, remastered from the original sources and presented in chronological order. It includes Casals' solo recordings of Bach's cello suites, Beethoven's cello sonatas, Brahms' cello sonata no.2, Dvorak's cello concerto, and many other works by Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saens, Faure, Debussy, and more. It also features Casals' collaborations with other eminent musicians such as Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Otto Schulhof, George Szell, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Jacques Thibaud, Alfred Cortot, Prades Festival Orchestra, and more.
This box set is a treasure trove for any cello lover or classical music enthusiast. It showcases Casals' unparalleled artistry, passion, and versatility as a cellist and a musician. It also documents his musical evolution and development over the years, as well as his historical and cultural context. It is a testament to his lasting legacy and influence on generations of cellists and music lovers.
Casals was born on December 29, 1876, in Vendrell, in the Catalonian region of Spain. He was the second of eleven children of Carlos Casals and Pilar Defillo de Casals. Casals's father, the local church organist, would play the piano while the infant Casals rested his head against it and sang along. He received his first music lessons from his father and soon showed remarkable talent for both piano and violin. However, his life changed when he saw a travelling musician playing a cello-strung broomstick. He was fascinated by the sound and asked his father to make him a similar instrument. His father obliged and constructed a crude cello from a gourd and some wood. Casals began to practice on this makeshift cello and soon developed a passion for the instrument.
When he was eleven years old, he moved with his mother to Barcelona, where he enrolled in the Escola Municipal de Música. There he studied cello with Josep Garcia and theory and piano with Joan Baptista Pujol. He also joined a string quartet and a trio that performed in cafÃs and theaters. In 1890, he made a discovery that would shape his musical career: he found a copy of Bach's six cello suites in a second-hand music shop. These suites were considered obscure and unplayable at the time, but Casals was captivated by their beauty and complexity. He devoted himself to studying and mastering them, and later became the first cellist to record them in their entirety.
Casals soon gained recognition as a prodigy and a virtuoso. He gave his first solo recital in Barcelona at the age of fourteen and graduated from the Escola with honors five years later. He then continued his studies in Madrid and Brussels, where he met some of the most prominent musicians of his time, such as Isaac AlbÃniz, Camille Saint-SaÃns, Edvard Grieg, and EugÃne YsaÃe. He also began to tour internationally, performing in Paris, London, Berlin, New York, and other major cities. He formed a celebrated trio with Alfred Cortot (piano) and Jacques Thibaud (violin), and collaborated with other renowned artists such as Fritz Kreisler, Harold Bauer, Walter Damrosch, and Artur Rubinstein.
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