Pablo Casals

J.S. Bach "Six Suites For Cello Solo" on Angel. Casals at his best. Beautifully organic cello playing , and WHAT TONE!!! If you are a Casals fan, allow me to recommend "Joys and Sorrows" Reflections By Pablo Casals As Told to Albert E. Kahn (Simon and Schuster). Fascinating reading, and insight into the mind of one of the greatest musicians that ever lived.

I agree with Frogman: when i was about 15 and hardly into this kind of stuff at all my friends father gave me a bunch of lps. One day i was really sick with the flu, fever and everything. for some reason i put on Casals 'bach, the six suites for cello solo' on angel records. i remember clearly starting to semi-hallucinate while listening...ok, i had a fever, but the sound of the cello was transporting and i spent the entire day dragging my sweaty body out of bed to flip the albums over (although this is when i had a stacking tt!). ever since then i've been hooked on these recordings. ive tried to find their equal and have had no luck - im not into classical music but this is the real shit. there is nothing i have found that comes close to the magic found here - it's spooky. even other casals ive bought dont come close. ive never heard anyone talk about this recording until i read frogman's post. ive still got the albums and they still freak me out when i listen to them. you cant go wrong here! hey, frogman, any other casals recs?

If you love the Cello, and I agree with you about Casals, you should also lend an ear to the recordings of Janos Starker, of Enrico Mainardi, Tortelier, Piatigorski, only to mention a few of the old guard. As far as Casals is concerned, I would also recommend Schubert's Quintet in C-minor. Regards,

Kublakhanpics, I have no doubt that listening to Casals play Bach sped up your recovery. Thanks for sharing. I second Detlof's recommendation of the Schubert Qnt. and would add the Piano Trio #1 on Sony Classical as well as the Beethoven Sonatas #'s 3 and 4 with Rudolf Serkin on Columbia. For cello with orchestra, Dvorak Concerto with Szell conducting the Czheck Phil. can't be beat. Casals' power as musician and human being translated over to his conducting and since you obviously appreciate Bach, check out his recording of the Bach Orchestral Suites #'s 2 and 3 on Sony. Great stuff. Casals would always tell his students "Don't play the notes, play the meaning of the notes". Hope you enjoy these. And oh yeah, drink lots of liquids.