![]() ![]() At thirteen, he discovered, in a second-hand music store in Barcelona, a tattered copy of Bach's six cello suites. There he studied cello, theory, and piano. In 1888 his mother, took him to Barcelona, where he enrolled in the Escola Municipal de Música. When Casals was eleven, he heard a real cello performed by a group of traveling musicians, and his passion and dedication to teh instrument was ignited. ![]() Upon request, his father built him a crude cello, using a gourd as a sound-box. He first encountered a cello-like instrument from a local traveling Catalan musician, who played a cello-strung broom handle. At age four Casals could play the violin, piano and flute and at the age of six he performed his first violin solo in public. His father, was a parish organist, choirmaster and strict disciplinarian and he became Casals' first teacher in piano, song, violin, and organ. This may suit others better.Pablo Casals was actually named Pau Casals and was born in El Vendrell, Catalonia, Spain. My understanding is that more readily available versions from Warner/Emi and Naxos have intervened more in reducing hiss. Yet I am happy to live with that for the potential gains.Īlso perhaps because of its constant presence, over time I tend to zone the hiss out anyway. For sure, hiss on my version is significant and ever present. The trade off then arising of thin and metallic sound. Even so, they acknowledged they made limited use of digital noise reduction techniques, believing that excessive noise reduction also leads to reduction of the music available. They found Japanese pressings to be inferior and British pressings to have a larger surface noise than the American ones. As regards the version I have on a relatively rare Japanese label, they used USA pressings. However, there are choices to be made here. An inevitable result when they are being sourced from old record pressings. As they were recorded in the years leading upto the Second World War technical limitations in the sound are inevitable.Īlso it is impossible to get a version which completely eliminates hiss in the recordings. I can’t leave this review without addressing the issue of the recording’s age. It still seems to hang together on its own terms, and given how long he had been performing the works it deserves the deepest respect.įurthermore, there is little doubt that his championing of the works sparked a revival of them leading to many wonderful recordings by other artists to follow, so he is owed a massive debt. (Even if it would never be my desert island version.) An object lesson in sustained phrases!ĭespite all the above, I am happy to continue playing Casals’ recording at periodic intervals. This is a long version by anyone’s standards. On the other hand, a few raised eyebrows may be caused by his interpretation of the Prelude to the 5th Suite. The consequence being slight blurring of some notes. ![]() Occasionally, in the quicker movements (such as the Gigues), I sense he may have been playing at a speed faster than his fingers wished to fly. They are on the whole brisk readings with some issues of intonation at times. So, what can be said about his readings? Well they seem to me to be very full blooded. However, without an earlier tradition to consider, he was effectively completely reliant on his own views of how they should be interpreted. Thus, his readings were by no means first impressions. As his recordings only commenced when he was 60, it is fair to say he had lived with the suites for a long time. ![]() He had been playing the suites since he first discovered a manuscript copy at the age of 13. In any event he is considered the first internationally famous cellist to have undertaken the task. Whilst I have it on good authority that earlier recordings of parts of Bach’s Suites exist, Casals is reputed to have been the first to record the complete set. Pablo Casals Bach Cello Suites No.1-6 (Opus Kura) Rec.1936-39 OPK-2041/2. ![]()
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