I have on my nightstand the biography of Pablo Casals, written by Juan Alavedra, published in 1963, which unfortunately has not been translated and it's available only in Spanish.
(I'm lucky I've studied Spanish in high school, so I was able to read it in the original language, which is also more authentic!)
Even Pablo Casals, by reading it, said: “This is the book I would have wanted to write if only I were a writer", because Alavedra truthfully describes every fundamental step of his life.
We all know Pablo Casals as one of the greatest artists and cellists in the history of interpreters, but we are certainly grateful to him for having rediscovered the - now very famous - 6 Suites by Bach, by giving them an interpretative concept, which was overwhelming and innovative compared to how the Suites used to be played before.
“Casals dedicated almost his whole life to fight to prove that Bach did not write some "exercises", but he wrote music in the highest sense, vehement and powerful, full of grace and color, of joy and tragedy." (Pablo Casals, biography of J. Alavedra)
When Casals played for the first time the Suites by Bach in London, there was Edward Speyer in the concert hall, who was philanthropist and supporter of musical arts and also friend of many important composers like Brahms or Joachim, and he defined the performance with these words: "The Bach Suite subjugated the listeners because Bach, who was interpreted faithfully to the classicism of his work, was also performed with a completely spontaneity of sentiment, which had nothing to do with the arid and inanimate style with which the purists wanted us to believe that it should be played."
Casals asked himself how it was possible that even Robert Schumann, who was German, obviously knower of Bach and a man with strong sensitivity, could have believed necessary to compose a piano accompaniment for the Bach Suites, as if the music written by Bach was not self-sustaining. If you want to listen to this Schumann arrangement of the Bach Suites for cello and piano, here's the link: https://youtu.be/LmZQFB9hfLw
Yes, because maybe it is not well known, but Robert Schumann composed a piano accompaniment for the Bach Suites for cello solo!
When Pablo Casals found out about this, he was shocked, because in contrast with Schumann, quoting and translating Alavedra:
"He contemplated the original work, free of all those containments that wanted to limit it, and he saw it running freely like a noisy river with marbled waters, in a joined spurt, not uniform, but rather full of tensions and reflections, of sudden interruptions and then rapid streams, like a great chant crossed and enhanced by different voices. Casals has always felt the Bach Suites in this way inside his soul, and during many years he has studied in this way and he wanted to donate his vision to the world."
According to Casals, the interpreter must not be a disciple, but rather a creator: he must interpret with his soul.
Casals didn't care if in Bach's work were no written indications, because he felt inside himself that he received fully the intrinsic message of the work.
So, I got inspired by the words, the thought, the studies, the interpretations that the great Pablo Casals has left us, and I felt something vibrating inside my soul, feeling close to the freedom Casals fought for and to that will to put yourself inside the interpretation.
I've always and instinctively tried and I still try to transmit my personal emotions, my images, my emotional experiences within the flow of the notes; and also within Bach's austerity, I feel an universality of emotions, which is worth deepening in order to communicate them to the audience, like Pablo Casals, through his history and his long, passionated and devoted study on Bach, has taught me and teaches me every day.
Bea
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