![]() ![]() Instead, Casals worked with copies that had annotation (or directions on how to play the notes) not attributed to the composer.īefore Casals, the cello suites were seen as complex, technical exercises - not for concerts. They weren't Bach's originals, because Claret says they don't exist. The young, determined musician spent years searching for the composer's intentions hidden inside the edited manuscripts. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)Ĭasals was born in the Catalonia region of Spain in 1876. When he was 12, Casals discovered Bach's Cello Suites in a music shop in Barcelona, Claret told me. Lluís Claret and Yeesun Kim have a laugh after playing Bach's Cello Suite No. He chairs the strings department at NEC.Ĭlaret, Kim and their students have been getting ready for an ambitious tribute this weekend, put together by Celebrity Series of Boston, that features multiple performances to celebrate Casals' legacy. "It's like our bible," says cellist Lluís Claret with a laugh. But Casals is credited with making the suites modern sensations in the 20th century and was the first to record them. ![]() His set of six unaccompanied suites from the 1700s are like a holy grail for aspiring musicians and virtuosos today, including Yo-Yo Ma. If you Google “most popular cello pieces,” Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suite No. It's a thought, it's not so much musical sound per se.” “It's really, literally, like someone reciting their concept about life philosophy. “Oftentimes when you listen to Casals playing, you don't really think that it's cello,” explained Kim, who is a member of the Borromeo String Quartet, which is in residence at the New England Conservatory (NEC). With her eyes closed, Kim’s fingers dart along her cello’s neck with a life of their own. She says it’s taken years to wrap her head around Casals’ long iconic interpretations. Musician Yeesun Kim wakes up every morning the way Pablo Casals did - by playing one of Bach’s six, demanding cello suites from memory. (Jesse Costa/WBUR) This article is more than 3 years old. Credit Line National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution 1959 Object number NPG.82.116 Restrictions
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