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The first edition of Dvorak's Cello Concerto with Gaspar Cassado and
conductor Kurt Wöss on RLP-199-38.

Cello
Sonata No. 1 by Johannes Brahms with Otto Schulhof at the piano.

Dvorak's
Konzert H-Moll, Op. 104 released in Gernany on the Diamant label (Bestellnummer
BL 745).

The
6 Cello Suites of Johann Sebastian Bach on 3 LPs were recorded in the
late nineteen fifties by VOX (Vox Box VBX 15).

At
70 Gaspar Cassado recorded with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and pianist
Louis Kentner for EMI: Ravel's Piano Trio and Mozart's K 542.
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In the era
of the shellac record, the leading cellists were Pablo Casals (1876-1973),
Emanuel Feuermann (1902-1942), Gregor Piatigorsky (1903-1976), Pierre
Fournier (1906-1986), André Navarra (1911-1988), and of course
Gaspar Cassadó.
Cassado was not only known for his stylish interpretations but also
because he himself was a composer and arranger. Compositions were
a.o. "Danse du diable", "Requiebros", and "Serenade".
He made arrangements of "Intermezzo" from Goyescas (Granados),
Laserna's "Tonadilla" and Schubert's "Sonata for Arpeggione"
with orchestral accompaniment.
He appeared
with Willem Mengelberg and
made several recordings with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt for the Polydor label (Deutsche Grammophon).
Cassado was often accompanied by then famous pianist Michael Raucheisen
(1898-1984).
The following
titles of 78 RPM recordings are compiled from two editions of The
Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music, Simon & Shuster,
New York 1942, and Crown Publishers, New York, 1948, respectively.
Chopin:
Cello Sonata - Polydor PD 95027
Chopin: Nocturne No. 2 - Polydor PD95027
Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione, arranged for 'cello and orchestra
by Gaspar Cassadó, performed by Gaspar Cassadó and Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Hamilton Harty - Columbia CM139
Dvorak: Cello Concerto in B minor Op. 104, Berlin Philharmonic,
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt - Telefunken E1893/7
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Haydn's
Concerto with Schmidt-Isserstedt and gems by Méhul, Schumann,
Fauré, Dvorak, Albeniz, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, accompanied
by pianists Michael Raucheisen, Willie Hammer and Giuletta Mendelssohn
Giorgiani.
78 RPM recordings transferred to Lp.
Melodiya M10-43343-4.
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Mehul:
Gavotte - Telefunken A0283
Albeniz: Cadiz with Michael Raucheisen - Gramophone DA4885
Saint-Saëns: Le cygne (The Swann) - Columbia D1600
Cassado: Requiebros, with pianist Michael Raucheisen - Telefunken
E1820
Tcherepnin: Ode, with Michael Raucheisen at the piano - Telefunken
A1830
Laserna: Tonadilla, Berlin Philharmonic, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
conducting - Telefunken A 1830
Haydn: Cello Concerto, Hans Shmidt-Isserstedt - Telefunken
SK3222/4
Händel: Largo - Columbia C-L2046, CQX-10487
Schumann: Traumerei - Polydor PD95027
Tartini: Cello Concerto, Berlin Philharmonic, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt
- Telefunken E1820
No wonder that
the liner notes of Remington R-199-128 read:
As we can
hear in this selection of "Encores", GASPAR CASSADO
has earned an international reputation as a cellist of great
sensitivity of expression. Born in 1897 in Barcelona, Cassado
became an outstanding pupil of Pablo Casals. He has appeared
as soloist in memorable performances with all the great orchestras
of Europe and regularly makes triumphant concert tours throughout
the world. He is a successful composer and arranger, though
most renowned for the singing tones of his cello, of which
Olin Downes in a New York article said: "great singers
could envy him for his belcanto."
OTTO
SCHULHOF, the pianist on both sides of this recording, was
born in Vienna in 1889. He has toured Europe with such natable
instrumentalists as Fritz Kreisler, Huberman and Kubelik and
he served for thirty years as accompanist to the famous cellist,
Pablo Casals.
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And the liner notes of
Vox lp PL 9360 (with Dvorak's Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Rococo
Variations) say:
Gaspar
Cassado, was born in Barcelona in 1897, when he was only 5
years old he entered the music school of "Los Mercedes"
of which his father was the director. He soon showed his preledition
for cello. After only two years of study he gave his first
recital with great success, and the Barcelona authorities
decided to award him a scholarship for study abroad with some
famous cellists. He went to Paris where he pursued his studies
and came in contact with Ravel and de Falla. He played with
Alfredo Casella and Ricardo Vines and made a sound reputation
for himself. After the first World War, Cassado began his
brilliant career touring Europe and South America and he played
with all the famous orchestras and conductors such as Furtwangler,
Mengelberg, Weingartner, Beecham, Gaubert and many others.
Cassado is also active as a composer and many of his works
have been performed on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Gaspar
Cassadó around 1955.
Picture taken from Vox PL 9360,
edited and restored by R.A.B..
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His successful career was interrupted by the Second World War as
so happened for so many artists. After World War II most people wanted
to continue were they had left off just before the war broke out.
Not every artist could build upon the laurels earned before the war.
Cassadó had stayed in Italy and was later accused by Pablo
Casals, his former teacher, of having collaborated with the fascist
rulers. This was a strain on the further development of Cassado's
career. For Cassado, like for so many artists, any concert booking
was welcome, any recording issued helped, certainly when the vinyl
Long Playing Record had been introduced and was gradually replacing
the shellac 78 RPM disc.
It was in 1951 that producer Marcel Prawy arranged for the recordings
of Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B minor Op. 104, with conductor
Kurt Wöss and the Austrian Symphony Orchestra to be issued
on the Remington label. The performance was released in the fall of
that year on Remington R-199-38. It was probably the first
recording Gaspar Cassado made for the new microgroove medium. That
same recording was later issued in Germany on the Diamant label, and
in France on Concerteum.
This recording was also issued on Gabor's Etude label (Ref.
702).
Half a year later, July 1952, Brahms's Cello Sonata No. 1, Op.
38, accompanied by Otto Schulhof at the piano, was released
on R-149-53. It was a welcome addition to the catalog as only
the Second Sonata Op. 99 in a reading by Gregor Piatigorsky had been
available till then. In the same month the Haydn Concerto with
Hans Wolf conducting was released on
R-199-79.
In 1953 Cassado R-199-128 was released with Cassado playing
short pieces.
On Side One it is violinist Michèle Auclair performing Kreisler
Favourites: Praeludium & Allegro (Pugnani-Kreisler), Melodie (Gluck-Kreisler),
Rondino On A Theme Of Beethoven (Kreisler), Songs My Mother Taught
Me (Dvorak-Kreisler), Serenade Espagnola (Chaminade-Kreisler), Danse
Espagnole (de Falla-Kreisler).
On the B-Side it is violoncellist Gaspar Cassadó who plays
these 'cello encores:
*Spinning Wheel (Mendelssohn-Bartholdy)
*Nocturne Op. 9, No. 2 (Chopin)
*Gavotte, Op. 23 (Popper)
*Melody (Rubinstein)
*Valse Sentimentale (Tchaikovsky)
*Improvisations on "The Blue Danube" (Strauss-Cassado).
Both performers were accompanied by Otto Schulhof.
A remarkable release was on Gabor's Masterseal record label
with Gaspar Cassado playing and accompanying baritone Paul Schoeffler
(MW-45).
Granados: Andalusian
Dance
Saint-Saens: The Swan
Bach-Gounod: Ave Maria
Tchaikovsky: Valse Sentimentale
Rubinstein: Melody
Strauss-Cassado: Improvisations on "The Blue Danube"
Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat
Strauss: Morgen
Wagner: Albumblatt
Schubert: Moment Musical
Bach: Air
Mendelssohn: Spinning Song
Massenet: Elegie
Schumann: Träumerei
Popper: Gavotte
The Remington
recordings eventually led to a contract with Vox Productions for which
Gaspar Cassadó recorded, together with conductor Jonel
Perlea, Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B minor Op. 104, plus Tchaikovsky's
Rococo Variations (PL 9360), the Cello Concertos of Lalo and Saint-Saëns
(PL 10.920), and Cello Concertos by Haydn, Vivaldi and Boccherini
(STPL 510.790), and Bach's Complete Cello Suites (BWV 1007-1012) on
Vox VBX-15; to mention a few.
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Haydn's
Cello Concerto with conductor Hans Wolf.
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Bien
étonné de se trouver ensemble: Michèle
Auclair and Gaspar Cassadó, both accompanied by Otto
Schulhof.
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In his Long
Playing Record Guide Warren
De Motte evaluated the earlier Remington recording of the
performance of Dvorak's Concerto. He says: "Cassado-Wöss
suffer from harsh recording; the music is well played by the cellist,
but poorly realized by the skimpy orchestra." And about the Haydn
Concerto: "Cassado's vigourous performane is weakly supported
by a coarse-toned orchestra."
The less favorable technical qualities of the recordings were caused
by the fact that many tapes were dubbed to a lower speed on an average
tape recorder and from there the lacquer was cut. Also Don Gabor used
a correction which differed from the RIAA curve which was not the
standard yet. However with the modern cartridges of today,
a better signal can be retreived from the groove if the disc has not
been treated in a bad way.
This page will
be updated.
See
also the Japanese website with the Extensive Discography of Gaspar
Cassado.
Rudolf A. Bruil, Fall 2005
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