Casals and the Art of Interpretation

252 Pages·1980·33.19 MB·English

by  David Blum

CASALS
and the Art of Interpretation
DA/ID BLUM
CASALS
and the Art of Interpretation
Pablo Casals, the greatest cellist the world
has ever known, thought of himself not
primarily as a cellist but as a musician.
During the last twenty-eight years of his life,
when he seldom performed as a soloist,
Casals devoted himself mainly to conducting
and teaching, conveying to a younger
generation his essential principles of music-
making.
It was during this period that there
developed between the author and Casals a
friendship that was to last nearly two
decades. And now, in this book, David
Blum provides the first comprehensive
study of Casals’ approach to interpretation.
As Antony Hopkins points out in his
Foreword, David Blum was ideally placed to
hand down Casals’ musical legacy: ‘He had
his notebook to hand but he never forced
himself upon Casals as a chronicler. . . . He
simply wanted to treasure for his own use
everything that he could gather of Casals’
experience and wisdom. Only an intellectual
miser would want to keep such riches to
himself; it is our good fortune that this quiet
observer has chosen to share this wealth
with us so that we too may come under the
spell of Pablo Casals and know him as a
musician and teacher supreme.’
The book opens with a chapter on the
essence of Casals’ musicianship, ‘The First
Principle’. The subsequent three chapters
are devoted in turn to Casals’ fundamental
concepts of phrasing, the means by which he
achieved clarity of musical articulation, and
his approach to time relationships - rhythm,
tempo, rubato. Chapter V, ‘Insights for
String Players’, contains an account of the
main points of Casals’ teaching in regard to
bowing, fingering, vibrato and ‘expressive
intonation’. Chapter VI is devoted to
Casals’ interpretation of Bach, and in
Chapter VII there is a fascinating and
illuminating bar-by-bar account of Casals
rehearsing Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony.
A short epilogue describing a personal
encounter concludes the book. The author
has provided over 350 musical examples to
illustrate the text.
Everyone interested in music and its
interpretation will find this a profoundly
absorbing study.
ISBN 0 8419 0307 7
3 9047 02644409
780.92 CASALS
BLUM, DAVID
CASALS AND THE
78 Ofi
7 7
ART OF INTERPRETATION.
v
MAR 6 1993
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San Mateo Public Library
San Mateo, CA 94402
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CASALS
AND THE ART
OF
INTERPRETATION
DAVID BLUM
HOLMES & MEIER PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK
First published in the United States of America 1977 by
Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc.
101 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10003
© David Blum 1977
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Blum, David.
Casals and the art of interpretation.
Includes index.
1. Casals, Pablo, 1876—1973. 2. Music—
Performance. I. Title.
ML418.C4B6 78O'.92'4 77-1444
ISBN 0-8419-0307-7
The author and publisher are grateful to Novello & Company Ltd for
permission to reprint musical examples from the Elgar Cello Concerto,
and to E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. and Hutchinson & Co. Ltd for
permission to quote extracts from Conversations with Casals by Jose Maria
Corredor. Copyright © 1956 by E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
78 06277
CONTENTS
Foreword vii
Preface xi
I The First Principle i
II Finding the Design 15
III Diction for Instrumentalists 50
IV Perceiving Time Relationships 69
V Insights for String Players 101
VI Casals and Bach 138
VII A Casals Rehearsal: The Pastoral Symphony 164
Epilogue 208
Principal References 212
Index to Musical Works 215
General Index 219
ILLUSTRATIONS
The musical examples have been drawn by Malcolm Lipkin.
I will say only elemental things, nothing com-
plicated — as everything ought to be, beginning
with life. But you must know that the simplest
things are the ones that count.
Pablo Casals