Featured artists:
Alfred Cortot, Sir Adrian Boult, George Szell, Jacques Thibaud, Mieczysław Horszowski, Otto Schulhof, Blas Net, Sir Landon Ronald
The Catalan cellist Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was first to bring to wider notice the works that open this set, J.S. Bach’s solo cello suites. Thereafter we hear his celebrated partnership with Horszowski in Beethoven and the groundbreaking piano trio formed with Thibaud and Cortot in Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn. From the symphonic repertoire come the concertos by Dvořák (with George Szell) and Elgar (Adrian Boult). Finally, an enchanting disc of encores and – with Casals’s own street-band or cobla – seven examples of the sardana, the national dance of the great artist’s beloved homeland.