Enrique Granados, a Spanish composer and pianist, was also an accomplished painter with a great admiration for Goya, which inspired his works titled Goyescas.
Performer Biography
Alban Gerhardt, the cellist, studied with Boris Pergamenschikov, who spent three years trying to teach him a more modern way of playing the cello.
Cultural Impact
Pablo Casals, the renowned cellist, always concluded his concerts with 'The Song of the Birds,' a Catalan carol about the Nativity, which he described as a beautiful and tender tale.
Performer Biography
Cecile Licad, the pianist, began her piano studies at age three in her native Philippines and later became one of the youngest musicians to receive the prestigious Leventritt Gold Medal.
Composition History
The 'Raindrop' Prelude by Frédéric Chopin, a Polish composer, was supposedly inspired by the sound of rain pounding on the roof during an ill-fated holiday in Majorca.
Interpretation
Alban Gerhardt, the cellist on this album, was inspired by Pablo Casals' unique sound and approach to encores, treating them with the same care as a newly discovered Beethoven piece.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Pablo Casals, the legendary Spanish cellist who inspired this album, believed that no other composer wrote better for the cello than David Popper, a Czech cellist and composer.
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