Gaspar Cassadó, a child prodigy cellist, began studying cello with Pablo Casals at age nine after Casals heard his first public performance.
Performer Biography
Cellist Andrew Smith and pianist Alfredo Oyágüez Montero began their collaboration in 1999 at the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Italy.
Compositional Technique
Gaspar Cassadó's Sonata Nello Stile Antico Spagnuolo fuses late Baroque and classical 'stile galante' with romantic harmonies, typical of fashionable pieces by composer-performers of the 1920s and 30s.
Cultural Impact
"El Cant dels Ocells" (The Song of the Birds), a traditional Catalonian song made famous by cellist Pablo Casals, has become a symbol of national identity for the Catalonian people.
Composition History
Joaquin Turina himself transcribed "El Jueves Santo a Medianoche" from his solo piano suite Sevilla for cello and piano in 1924 at the request of Gaspar Cassadó, to whom it was dedicated.
Performer Biography
Alfredo Oyágüez Montero, the pianist, is the head of the conducting and orchestra programs at The Conservatorio Superior de Las Islas Baleares and Artistic Director of the Deiá International Music Festival.
Performer Biography
Andrew Smith, the cellist on this album, is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the Principal Cellist of the Las Vegas Philharmonic.
You might also enjoy...
Exiles in Paradise: Émigré Composers in Hollywood
Duo Pepicelli
Martinů: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1-3
Infrequent Music for Cello and Piano
Bax & Jacob: Music for Cello and Piano (1958)
The Naumburg Recordings, 1986 First Prize Cello Competition - Andrés Díaz
