Pablo Casals, Marlboro Festival Orchestra - Johann Sebastian Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 4-6, Orchestral Suite No. 4 (1990)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 364 Mb | Total time: 76:28 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Sony Classics | # SMK 46254 | Recorded: 1964, 1966
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 364 Mb | Total time: 76:28 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Sony Classics | # SMK 46254 | Recorded: 1964, 1966
Casals was one of the very few conductors, and certainly the first, to record the complete Brandenburgs twice – in 1950 with his Prades Festival Orchestra (Columbia LPs) and in 1964-6 with the Marlboro Festival Orchestra (Sony CDs). Incidentally, don't be fooled by their names into assuming that these were amateur ensembles – both were extraordinary groups of top-flight professionals who would come together to study and play over the summer – the cello section of the Marlboro Festival Orchestra included Mischa Schneider (of the Budapest Quartet), Hermann Busch (Busch Quartet) and David Soyer (Guarneri Quartet). As recalled by Bernard Meillat, while Casals appreciated research into Baroque playing, he viewed Bach as timeless and universal, and insisted that an interpreter's intuition was far more important than strict observance of esthetic tradition.