Max Bruch

(1838-1920)

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Ruggiero Ricci - Romantic Violin Concertos

Ruggiero Ricci - Romantic Violin Concertos


Beethoven:

Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult

Bruch:

Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26

London Symphony Orchestra, Piero Gamba

Dvorak:

Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53

London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent

Mendelssohn:

Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64

Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Jean Fournet


Ruggiero Ricci (violin)

A double-CD of Romantic Violin Concertos celebrating the art of Ruggiero Ricci, this set includes the first international release on CD of the Ricci/Boult 1952 recording of the Beethoven. Boult characterised it as ‘perhaps the most thoughtful concerto, the one which needs for the violinist to be a great man as well as a great player’. Indeed it is a thoughtful and poised reading from both soloist and conductor, coupled with classic accounts of the Mendelssohn, Bruch and Dvorak. The booklet notes by Tully Potter include a biography of Ricci and (sometimes wry!) comments by the violinist himself on the recordings.

[Beethoven] “I do not think we are likely to get a better recording for a long while” Gramophone

[Bruch] "Ricci gives very good performances indeed of both concertos; caught out nowhere, even on the margin of intonation, by their technical demands in the outer movements, he manages also to communicate both poetry and impulse to the slow movements." Gramophone

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Australian Eloquence - 4802080

(CD - 2 discs)

$11.99

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Bruch & Mendelssohn - Violin Concertos

Bruch & Mendelssohn - Violin Concertos


Bruch:

Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26

Mendelssohn:

Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64


Yehudi Menuhin (violin)

Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind & Efrem Kurtz

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EMI Masters - 9659262

(CD)

$8.99

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Gala Concert St. Petersburg

Gala Concert St. Petersburg

Recorded live at the St. Petersburg Philharmonia, Grand Hall, 1 June 2003


Bruch:

Kol Nidrei, Op. 47

Donizetti:

Lucia's cavatina from Lucia di Lammermoor

Leoncavallo:

Nedda and Silvio Duett from I Pagliacci

Puccini:

Quando me'n vo (from La Bohème)

Rachmaninov:

Fanfare

Ravel:

Piano Concerto in D major (for the left hand)

Respighi:

Adagio con variazioni for cello and orchestra

Saint-Saëns:

Introduction & Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28

Shostakovich:

Festive Overture, Op. 96

Tchaikovsky:

Yeletsky’s Aria from Pique Dame

Polonaise (from Eugene Onegin, Op. 24)

Verdi:

Death of Rodrigo from Don Carlo


Anna Netrebko (soprano), Dimitri Hvorostovsky (baritone), Mischa Maisky (cello), Eliso Virsaladze (piano) & Viktor Tretjakov (violin)

St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Yuri Temirkanov & Nikolai Alekseev

This festive gala concert was held to mark the city’s 300th anniversary, bringing together some of the greatest Russian artists: young soprano Anna Netrebko, baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, such great instrumentalists as cellist Mischa Maisky and violinist Viktor Tretyakov.

World-famous St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov in a repertoire of fascinating variety.

An extraordinary evening with a lot of highlights from the most loved classical masterpieces.

Re-release of our very successful DVD and Blu-ray.

“Anna Netrebko has become one of the most admired of young lyric sopranos the world over" The Gramophone Magazine

Picture format DVD: NTSC 16:9

Sounds formats DVD: PCM Stereo, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1

Region code: 0

Booklet notes: English, German, French

Running time: 112 mins

Audience: all

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DVD Video

Region: 0

Format: NTSC

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EuroArts - 2053408

(DVD Video)

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Bruch - Works for Clarinet and Viola

Bruch - Works for Clarinet and Viola


Bruch:

Concerto in E minor for clarinet, viola and orchestra Op. 88

Eight Pieces for clarinet, viola and piano, Op. 83

Romance for viola & orchestra/piano, Op. 85


Jean-Luc Votano (clarinet), Arnaud Thorette (viola) & Johan Farjot (piano)

Orchestre Philharmonique de Liege Wallonie Bruxelles, Pascal Rophe

All the works in this stunning recording were composed in the same year, 1911. The CD includes Bruch’s Concerto for clarinet, viola and orchestra (Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège) as well as Eight pieces for clarinet, viola and piano.

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Cypres - CYP7611

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$16.99

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Daniel Müller-Schott plays Cello Concertos

Daniel Müller-Schott plays Cello Concertos


Bruch:

Kol Nidrei, Op. 47

Schumann:

Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129

Strauss, R:

Romance for cello and piano in F Major, AV 75

Volkmann:

Cellokonzert a-moll Op. 33


Daniel Müller-Schott (cello)

NDR Sinfonieorchester, Christoph Eschenbach

On his latest CD, Daniel Müller-Schott devotes himself to the cello's Romantic and late-Romantic solo concerto repertoire. It is a voyage of exploration that offers things both known and worthy of (re )discovery. After the Classical period, the cello fell out of fashion as a concertante instrument.When that changed again in the mid-19th century, it fascinated composers more than ever, and this in turn had an impact on their creative muse. For Robert Schumann, to be sure, the composition of his Cello Concerto was bound up with major disappointments - he himself did not live to hear its world première. But the concerto's interplay between soloist and orchestra is exciting, as are its contrasts between discretion and impulsiveness, and it is today well-loved by both audiences and interpreters and a firm feature in the repertoire. The dramatic aspect of the music comes as much to the fore here as it does in our recording of the Concerto by Schumann's contemporary Robert Volkmann. It is considerably less popular than Schumann's, but it thrives on singing, melodic themes and their sophisticated elaboration.These two concertos are complemented by two shorter pieces: Max Bruch's Kol Nidrei after Old Hebrew melodies, whose rich musical spectrum is savoured uninhibitedly and to the full by Daniel Müller-Schott, Christoph Eschenbach and the NDR Symphony Orchestra.Then there is the Romance in F Major for cello and orchestra by Richard Strauss, who despite his youth (he wrote it when 19) already offers us a hint of the originality of his later tone poems.

“Daniel Müller-Schott's mellow cello timbre and emotional sensibility are key factors in this warmhearted disc of four Romantic works...Even in the familiar pieces, Müller-Schott opens up fresh vistas of tonal shading and sincere expression...His phrasing is long-breathed, the paragraphs of music articulated with elegance and a restrained passion.” The Telegraph, 25th November 2009

“…really fine performance of Volkmann's Cello Concerto, a virtuoso showpiece in the grand manner, condensed into a fluid single movement form. Daniel Müller-Schott is a characterful advocate of the work, finding the fun in it and sharing this with Christoph Eschenbach and the orchestra in much delightful interplay. It's fiendishly difficult but Schott jumps through all its hoops with effortless panache.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2010 ****

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Orfeo - C781091A

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$16.99

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Gala Concert from St.Petersburg

Gala Concert from St.Petersburg


Bruch:

Kol Nidrei, Op. 47

Cilea:

Io son l'umile ancella (from Adriana Lecouvreur)

Leoncavallo:

Nedda and Silvio Duett from I Pagliacci

Ravel:

Piano Concerto in D major (for the left hand)

Respighi:

Adagio con variazioni for cello and orchestra

Saint-Saëns:

Introduction & Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28

Tchaikovsky:

Meditation in D minor Op. 42 No. 1

Polonaise (from Eugene Onegin, Op. 24)

Ya vas liubliu from Pique Dame

Verdi:

Tu che la vanità (from Don Carlo)


Anna Netrebko (soprano), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (baritone), Mischa Maisky (cello), Eliso Virsaladze (piano) & Viktor Tretjakov (violin)

St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Yuri Temirkanov & Nikolai Alekseev

This festive gala concert was held to mark the city's 300th anniversary, bringing together some of the greatest Russian artists: young soprano Anna Netrebko, baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, such great instrumentalists as cellist Mischa Maisky and violinist Viktor Tretyakov.

World-famous St Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov in repertoire of fascinating variety.

Available for the first time on Blu-ray Disc.

NTSC · 16:9, PCM 2.0 · PCM 5.1

Region Code:All

Booklet Notes: English, German, French

Languages: Spanish, Italian, Russian

Subtitles: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian

Running Time: 112 mins

Audiences: all

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Blu-ray Disc

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Medici Arts - 2053404

(Blu-ray)

$38.99

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Brahms & Bruch - Violin Concertos
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Brahms & Bruch - Violin Concertos


Brahms:

Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77

Bruch:

Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26


Sarah Chang (violin)

Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, Kurt Masur

Sarah Chang has recorded the Brahms Violin Concerto with Kurt Masur and the Dresdner Philharmonie. Two decades after first learning the concerto, and following several years of studying the work with Kurt Masur, she felt the time was finally right to commit to disc one of the summits of a violinist’s recording career. EMI Classics is proud to release this recording, which couples the Brahms with the ever-popular Bruch G minor concerto.

“I’ve been working with Maestro Masur since I was about ten years old,” Chang said recently, “and I’ve gone through just about every concerto with him. He is like my musical godfather. From the time I was about 18, I would ask Maestro Masur every year if we could perform the Brahms concerto together, and every year he turned me down. Finally I stopped asking. And then, about three or four years ago, he pulled me aside and said he thought I was ready, that I could work with him [on it]. … The work requires so much emotional depth, so much stamina and a lot of musical knowledge, not just of your own line but of the orchestration. The greatest joy comes from treating it as a chamber music piece, from involving yourself in the wash of sound.”

“The Bruch G minor is one of my favourite concertos,” Chang continued. “I auditioned for Juilliard with the Bruch when I was about five and a half so it was also one of my first concertos. It is so beautiful; it has an incredibly dramatic side to it, but also the most luscious, glorious melodies that are unapologetically, heartbreakingly romantic.”

The concertos were recorded in two venues in Dresden, the Bruch in the Lucaskirche and the Brahms in the Kulturpalast concert hall. Both venues are “spectacular” but, with church bells from all the Dresden churches ringing at 12 noon every day, including during recording sessions, Sarah said, “I hope we’ll have a disc without church bells!”

Sarah Chang describes the Dresdner Philharmonie as “phenomenal, one of the most hard-working, passionate and really heart-warmingly chamber music-like ensembles. Every single take, every single minute that we worked together, everybody was giving 120% and that is really inspiring.” She reserves special praise for Kurt Masur: “He’s very passionate – and he demands excellence. At the end of the day, he’s there for the music and to deliver the best performance.” Kurt Masur conducted the Dresdner Philharmonie in 1954 and 1957, returning as Principal Conductor from 1967 to 1972. From 1970 to 1996, he held the post of Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the so-called “Brahms orchestra.”

Johannes Brahms met the legendary violinist Joseph Joachim in 1853. Although both were about the same age, Joachim was already famous while Brahms was still unknown and struggling in the shadow of Beethoven’s genius. Twenty five years later, Brahms composed his only violin concerto for his dear friend. It was in D Major, the same key as Beethoven’s only violin concerto and, as he wrote it, Brahms called on Joachim for technical advice. The composer conducted the premiere in Leipzig on New Year’s Day 1879 with the Gewandhaus Orchestra with the work’s dedicatee as the soloist.

Max Bruch also had a close relationship with Joseph Joachim, who advised him on his G minor violin concerto and performed the premiere of its revised version in 1868. Both the Brahms and Bruch concertos have finales in gypsy style, paying tribute to Joachim’s Hungarian roots and both contain features of his playing, such as his grand theatrical manner, expressive legato lines and decorative melodic passagework.

Sarah Chang is recognised as one of today’s most captivating and gifted performers, possessed of astonishing musical insight, technical virtuosity and emotional range. She has recorded exclusively for EMI Classics from the beginning of her career and has produced a discography that includes the violin concertos of Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Dvorák, Paganini No. 1, Prokofiev No. 1, Shostakovich No. 1, Goldmark, Sibelius, Richard Strauss and Vieuxtemps No. 5 as well as Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole, Saint-Saëns’s Havanaise and Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and chamber music by Dvorák, Tchaikovsky, Franck, Ravel and Saint-Saëns.

“a flawless delivery, deep musical intelligence and barely contained expressive exuberance." (The Irish Times, Feb 2, 2009 on Sarah Chang’s performance of the Brahms violin concerto)

“To listen to Sarah Chang is to be bathed in the sheer beauty of her sound. It can yield some sublime moments: the way the violin line emerges out of the orchestra in the first movement of the Bruch, or the sheer finesse of every phrase in both works, virtuosity worn lightly but unmistakable none the less.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2009

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EMI - 9670042

(CD)

$16.99

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Stille Nacht

Stille Nacht

German Carols (originally released as 'Weihnacht Der Romantik')


Bruch:

Laßt uns das Kindelein wiegen

Fuchs, R:

O freudenreicher Tag

Kienzl:

Mein Herz will ich dir schenken

Auf, auf, ihr Hirten

Mandyczewski:

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht

Mendelssohn:

Lasset uns frohlocken

Frohlocket, ihr Völker auf Erden

Nössler:

Tröstet mein Volk Op. 39

Reger:

Macht hoch die Tür

Unser lieben Frauen Traum Op. 138.4

Es kommt ein Schiff geladen

Das Volk, das im Finstern wandelt Op. 84.2

Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her

Kommt und laßt uns Christum ehren

In dulci jubilo

Schlaf, mein Kindelein

Das Word ward Fleisch

O Jesulein süß

Riedel, H:

O du fröhliche

Silcher:

Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe

trad.:

Kommet, ihr Hirten

Wüllner:

Herbei, o ihr Gläub'gen

Kindelein zart


RIAS Kammerchor, Uwe Gronostay

Harmonia Mundi - HMGold - HMG501794

(CD)

$11.49

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Bruch - Violin Concertos Nos. 2 & 3

Bruch - Violin Concertos Nos. 2 & 3


Bruch:

Violin Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 44

Violin Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 58


Maxim Fedotov (violin)

Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Dmitry Yablonsky

While Max Bruch’s first Violin Concerto is one of the most popular in the repertoire, his other two remain relatively unknown.

The second, dedicated to the virtuoso Pablo Sarasate, opens with a rhapsodic Adagio brimming with sublime melodies, its declamatory middle movement leading to a rhythmic finale.

In contrast, the third, from 1891, launches heroically, the soloist taking centre-stage in the lyrical Adagio middle movement, a perpetuum mobile rondo finale capping the work.

Maxim Fedotov’s recording of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 can be heard on Naxos 8557689. His recording of the Scottish Fantasy is available on 8557395.

Naxos - 8557793

(CD)

$6.99

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Pablo Casals – The Complete Published EMI Recordings 1926-1955

Pablo Casals – The Complete Published EMI Recordings 1926-1955


Bach, J S:

Cello Suites Nos. 1-6, BWV1007-1012

Andante from Sonata No. 2 in A minor

arr. Siloti

Air (from Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV1068 'Air on a G String')

Beethoven:

Cello Sonatas Nos. 1-5 (complete)

with Mieczyslaw Horszowski (piano) & Otto Schulhof (piano)

Minuets WoO 10 - No. 2 in G major

arranged for cello and piano

Piano Trio No. 7 in B flat Major, Op. 97 'Archduke'

with Alfred Cortot (piano) & Jacques Thibaud (violin)

7 Variations on "Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen", for Cello and Piano, WoO 46

Alfred Cortot (piano)

Variations in G major on Wenzel Muller's Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu, Op. 121a

Alfred Cortot (piano)

Boccherini:

Cello Concerto No. 9 in B flat major, G 482

ed. Friedrich Grützmacher

London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Landon Ronald

Sonata No. 6 in A major for Cello and Piano (Adagio; Allegro)

Blas-Net (piano)

Brahms:

Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 99

Mieczyslaw Horszowski (piano)

Double Concerto for Violin & Cello in A minor, Op. 102

wih Jacques Thibaud (violin)

Orquesta Pau Casals, Barcelona, Alfred Cortot

Bruch:

Kol Nidrei, Op. 47

London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Landon Ronald

Casals:

Festivola

Cobla “La Principal de Gerona”, Pablo Casals (artistic direction)

Casals, E:

Heroica

dedicated to his brother, Pablo

Cobla “La Principal de Gerona”, Pablo Casals (artistic direction)

Tarragona

Cobla “La Principal de Gerona”, Pablo Casals (artistic direction)

Lluny

Cobla “La Principal de Gerona”, Pablo Casals (artistic direction)

Dvorak:

Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, George Szell

Songs My Mother Taught Me, Op. 55 No. 4

arr Alfred Grünfeld

Otto Schulhof (piano)

Elgar:

Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85

BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult

Garreta:

La Rosada

Cobla “La Principal de Gerona”, Pablo Casals (artistic direction)

Innominada

Cobla “La Principal de Gerona”, Pablo Casals (artistic direction)

Haydn:

Piano Trio No. 39 in G major, Hob.XV:25 'Gypsy'

with Alfred Cortot (piano) & Jacques Thibaud (violin)

Tempo di Minuetto (from Sonata No. 1 in C)

arr. Alfredo Piatti

Otto Schulhof (piano)

Laserna:

Tonadilla

arr. Gaspar Cassadó

Otto Schulhof (piano)

Mendelssohn:

Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49

with Alfred Cortot (piano) & Jacques Thibaud (violin)

Song without Words for Cello & Piano, Op. 109

Otto Schulhof (piano)

Rimsky Korsakov:

Flight of the Bumble Bee

arr. Strimer

Otto Schulhof (piano)

Saderra:

Dubte

Cobla “La Principal de Gerona”, Pablo Casals (artistic direction)

Schubert:

Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major, D898

with Alfred Cortot (piano) & Jacques Thibaud (violin)

Schumann:

Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63

with Alfred Cortot (piano) & Jacques Thibaud (violin)

Traümerei (from Kinderszenen, Op. 15)

Otto Schulhof (piano)

Tartini:

Grave ed espressivo (from Cello Concerto in D major)

Otto Schulhof (piano)

Valentini, G:

Gavotte

arr. Alfredo Piatti

Otto Schulhof (piano)

Vivaldi:

Concerto, Op. 3 No. 11 'Con due Violini e Violoncello obligato', RV 565: Largo

arr. Joachim Stutschewzky

Otto Schulhof (piano)


Pablo Casals (cello)

Pau Casals I Defilló or Pablo Casals as we was known throughout his glittering career was born on 29th December 1876 in El Vendrell in the Catalan part of Spain where his father was a parish choirmaster and organist. He taught Pablo singing, piano, violin, organ and how to compose. At six he heard a travelling musician playing a home-made cello and his father made him one. On hearing his first proper cello when he was eleven made him decide that this would be his instrument.

In 1888 he enrolled in the Municipal School of Music in Barcelona to study musical theory as well as piano and cello. Such was his remarkable progress that he gave a solo recital at the age of fourteen and graduated with honours two years later.

Albéniz, the great Spanish composer, heard him in a café trio and gave him a letter of introduction to the private secretary to María Cristina, the Queen Regent, in Madrid. He was duly granted a royal stipend to study composition at the Capital’s Music Conservatory and played at informal concerts in the palace. In 1895 he spent a year in Paris earning his living by playing second cello in the theatre orchestra of the Folies Marigny. He returned to Catalonia the following year and taught at the Music School.

In 1897 he appeared as soloist playing the Lalo Concerto with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra and the Queen awarded him the Order of Carlos III.

In 1899 he played at London’s Crystal Palace and for Queen Victoria at her summer residence, in November and December that year he was soloist at prestigious Lamoureux concerts in Paris to great public and critical acclaim. With the pianist Harold Bauer he toured Spain and the Netherlands in 1900/1, the United States in 1901/2 and South America in 1903. On 15th January 1904 he played at the White House for President Theodore Roosevelt and on 9th March he made his Carnegie Hall debut, playing Richard Strauss: Don Quixote under the baton of the composer.

In 1905 he moved to Paris where with the pianist Alfred Cortot and violinist Jacques Thibaud he established the famous trio which would last until 1934. The trio recorded Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann in versions which, even today, are regarded as touchstones of greatness. He also recorded cello sonatas by Beethoven and Brahms as well as the cello concertos by Dvorák and Elgar together with Bruch’s Kol Nidrei. Arguably his greatest recording was made by himself alone: In three periods during the years 1936, 1938 and 1939 he committed to disc the six suites by Bach.

Besides being a master of the cello he was a conductor and created an orchestra in his native Catalonia – Orquesta Pau Casals, Barcelona – indeed Cortot conducted it when Thibaud and Casals were the soloists in the recording of the Brahms Concerto for Violin and Cello and orchestra.

He was also a composer and amongst his creations are works for chorus as well as for his instrument – the most famous being an arrangement of the Catalan folksong El cant dels ocells (“Song of the Birds”)

For such a great man who gave so much music to the world, alas, his life was blighted by cruel fate. In 1936 Civil War broke out in Spain and his orchestra ceased its activities. He settled in a village in France close to the border with Spain where he gave concerts to assist those who opposed the fascist junta. So fierce was his anger at Francisco Franco’s dictatorial regime that he refused to appear in countries that recognised it as the legitimate government, an embargo that he only broke once when he played at the White House in November 1961 at the invitation of President John F. Kennedy whom he admired.

Celebrations to mark the bicentenary of the death of Bach in Prades in Conflent (about 20 miles west of Perpignan) prompted him to resume his career as both cellist and conductor and he continued to lead these festivals until 1966. By this time he had been living in the country of his mother’s birth, Puerto Rico for 10 years and married for nine of those to a local student, Marta Montañez Martínez. Casals had been married once before; from 1906 and 1912 he was associated with Guilhermina Suggia, a talented young Portuguese cellist but, although she often referred to herself in concert programmes as Mme P. Casals, they never married. In 1914 he married the American singer Susan Metcalfe; they separated fourteen years later but did not divorce until 1957 when he married for the second time. Casals and his wife set up home in a house called “El Pesebre” in the town of Ceiba on the east coast of the island whilst the capital, San Juan, inaugurated the annual Casals Festival in the same year.

During the 1960s Casals gave many master classes throughout the world. His last major public engagement was to conduct one of his last works: Himne a les Nacions Unides (Hymn of the United Nations) on 24th October 1971, two months before his 95th birthday. He died in 1973 but in 1979 his remains were returned for burial at his birthplace in Catalonia having failed by two years to see the end of Franco and the return of democratic rule for which he had fought so hard. He was posthumously honoured by the new government with the issue of a commemorative postage stamp in honour of the centenary of his birth in 1976.

ADDITIONAL NOTE:

The Sardana (plural: Sardanes) is the national dance of Catalonia, which acquired its present form in the mid-19th century. It is danced in a circle to the music provided by a Cobla, a street band consisting of pipe and tabor, double bass, and a variety of wind instruments especially two types of Catalan shawm – the tiple (‘treble’) and tenora. They are double-reed instruments, being the forerunner of the modern oboe, yet keep the pirouette and the old steep bore gradient of the original designs dating from the 16th- and 17th-centuries but are otherwise brought up to date with keywork of the 19th-century type. Both are transposing instruments: the tiple is pitched in F (a fourth above the oboe); and the tenora is a fifth lower, in B flat, with a long metal bell for the second tenora player to be able to reach low notes, down to f# (sounding e).

Their penetrating but very expressive sounds are backed by five brass instruments and a double bass, while the leader of the band makes introductory flourishes on a small pipe and tabor – a memory of times early in the 19th century when this, with shawm and bagpipe, alone provided music for the dance. The dance itself may alternate between 2/4 and 6/8 time.

Being such a nationalist and supporter of Catalonia it is not surprising that Pablo Casals, together with his family and friends, should provide music and support for the continued performance of such a Cobla by directly overseeing this recording.

EMI - 6949322

(CD - 9 discs)

$41.49

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