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CASALS CAPTIVATESLARGE AUDIENCE(Continued from page one)without tone-makers, and only a genius holds the secret of perfect tones. Such was Pablo Casals.It was positively uncanny to consider what an unearthly beauty the little man was producing with his catgut and horsehair and resin. To imagine anything more perfect in itself than those rich, vibrant, molten tones of gold, pouring forth in passionate utterance and pleading, and diminishing to ‘liquid pianissimos of exquisite purity, would be wel’lnigh impossible. Those luscious tones were a sheer sensual delight to the musical gourmet; flashing, irridescent, facets of light, strewn on a velvet canopy.But tones do not make the musician; there must be some expression of emotion before sympathy of musical feeling can be established. Casals was herein also a master. His program was an exacting one, including both ancient and modern masters, from Bach to Debussy, yet to each number he gave full meed of spirit and appreciation of artistic fitness, imbuing them with a fine sense of balance and style.The Sammartini Concerto which opened the program was not inherently capable of any intense emotional development, but the warm suavity of tone, the delicate incisiveness of the cellist’s staccati and the matchless trills and appogiatura fully realized the old time atmosphere and stately, placid beauty of the piece.Passing from Sammartini to Lalo gives one an impression very similar to that received as one turns from say de Quincey to Maurice Maeterlinck or Emil Verlaine, for there is more than a taste of modernism in the Spanish composer’s popular work, something akin to the mysticism of the Belgian poets. Casals endowed the first movement of the brilliant Concerto with a thrilling and intense reserve, free from any suspicion of bombastic display, though the fire and swift accuracy of his execution was a matter to be marvelled at. The lulling theme of the second part was gracefully delivered and each variation was given an individuality all its own, occasionally with a mazy mystery of veiled tone. The concluding Finale Vivace was a riot of joyous abandon and rhythmic verve.Only a supreme master of style can successfully pass from Lalo to Mozart with assurance, but such Casals proved to be, for his rendition of the Beetho-ven-Mozart variations will ever remain in our memory as a magnificently beautiful performance. Such delicacy of phrase, such lingering tenderness, such repose of spirit and quiet strength will seldom be equalled. Notes that were pearls in their flawless perfection were faintly veiled in a haze of crystalline piano tone. Followed Mozart Kapellmeister Bach, of whom Casals is a master, unrivaled. There was a noble dignity of phrase, and a spiritual exultation of utterance which defy description. Bach, the intellectual, the coldblooded clacciscist was made to proclaim suffering and triumph, glory and sadness in phrases of impressive majesty. The spirit of the interpretation can only be described by that untranslatable Polish word “Zal” which embodies all the yearnings of the Slavic race.Godowsky's “Larghetto Lamentoso” (from a set of short pieces called “Trin-kakameteron”) was conceived after the sombre manner of Chopin and perhaps recalled to the performer the moonlit mysteries of his own Granada. Those opponents of musical radicalism who abhor the dissonances of the modern school must have been silenced by Casals’ performance of the Debussy “Menuet”, Watteau-like in its quaint, miniature beauty. The ’cello tone shimmered, glistened, murmured over a shifting harmonic background, kaleidoscopic in its oriental voluptuousness.Naturally we expected to find Casals’ interpretation of the Granados “Danse Espagnole’’ authoritative, but that did not prepare one for the intense fire and ardor which imbued the performance of the number. It may be noted in passing that Enrique Granados was a submarine victim of the past war, who perished in the English Channel, upon his return home, after having successfully introduced his opera “Goyescas” to American audiences. S c h u b e r t’s “L’abeille” was a rare opportunity for pyrotechnical display and elicited the most hearty response of the evening. It was played at breathtaking pace, and with perfect accuracy of intonation and rhythm.It was evident that Mr. Casals was aided in great degree by the skilled musicianship of his accompanist, Mr. Edouard Gendron, whose sympathetic temperament, lovely tone and ample technique made the accompaniments a delight in themselves.
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Middlebury Campus
Middlebury, Vermont, US
Wed, Jan 18, 1922
Page 4
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