DAILY DOSE OF BEETHOVEN (May 4, 2020)

Pablo Casals, considered the greatest cellist of the 20th century, ceased all public performance in 1936, in protest of the world's toleration of the subjugation of his native land Spain, by the fascist dictator Franco. It was a great loss for culture, but Casals was a determined and principled man.

In 1950, a group of largely American musicians, pleaded with him not to let the 200th anniversary of the death of his most beloved composer, J.S. Bach, pass by without his participation. Casals said fine, but you must come to me. He lived then in the small French Catalonia town of Prades, close to his beloved Spain. They came, and thus was born several years of the Prades- Perpignan Festival, performing some of the most glorious chamber music ever heard.

You may have noticed an emphasis on our part on historical performances. That is not because we are stuck in the past. Rather we believe as did Giuseppe Verdi: "We should study the past. It will help us move forward." Please listen, and tell us what you hear from such sublime artists.

Here, we present the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 97, composed in 1811, sometimes called the Archduke Trio. It is so named, because Beethoven dedicated it to his friend, patron, and composition student Archduke Rudolf. This is a performance from 1952 in Prades, by Pablo Casals, Eugene Istomin, and Alexander Schneider.