Grand Masters of the Cello

I had a quite and restful weekend with lots of idle time.  As a consequence, I went to You Tube to spend some time poking around to see what I could come up with for this week.  I talk a lot about Music here in these pages as it is one the great passions of my life along with the appreciation of the beauty found in the Art of the Male Form.  Will has been telling me he has not been seeing enough of me in these pages of late.  He may be right, but when I can't, won't or shouldn't talk about this that or the other thing that may be going on in my life.  I can always talk about the Music and the Men, and so I do.  Because Music is one of my passions, I have tried to learn as much as I can along the way.  Then turn around and share my discoveries with you all.  I think it has worked thus far, don't you?  

In the world of music,  the Composers are inspired by the Music they hear in their minds to put that ethereal sound into the physical form of the musically written page.  Musical Artists are then tasked with bringing Composer's musical brainstorm to life.  As such Composers and Musical Artists enjoy an intimate relationship, even across the ages.  The great Composers still speak through their Music today, or else why would we listen?  Great Musical Artists take the Composers vision and with their interpretation add their voice to that of the Composer to tell the timeless tales that still resonate with people around the world today.  

By now it is no secret that the Cello is by far my most favorite of orchestral instruments.  Many of the Greatest Composers wrote a lot of great Music for the Cello either as a solo instrument or part of an ensemble or orchestra.  In my lifetime, there have been a select number of Musical Artists who could be considered and are acknowledged to be  Grand Masters of the Cello.  This week each day I will 'introduce' you to one of the Grand Masters with documentary footage of their lives and musical careers in these pages.  Over on my tumblr, I will post a companion video of a performance by that day's Grand Master.  

Today's featured Grand Master of the Cello is the Legendary Pablo Casals.  Casals who was a Spanish Catalan Cellist and Conductor, is generally regarded as the pre-eminent Cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest Cellists of all time. He made many recordings throughout his career, of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, also as conductor, but he is perhaps best remembered for the recordings of the Bach Cello Suites he made from 1936 to 1939.  An excellent 'Portrait Scrapbook'  with photos, essays & books about Casals life and career can be found at Cello.org.  

The BBC Documentary posted below examines Casals life both as a man and a musician.  (The subtitles are in German and some commentary is in French and German) Casals, whose lifetime of performances before heads of state spans from Queen Victoria to John F Kennedy, led an amazing lifetime and is rightly considered a Musical Genius.  Casals is thus the first Grand Master of the Cello featured this week.  Over on my tumblr you will find the 1958 performance captured live at Prades for the Casals Festival by Casals and Pianist Mieczislaw Horszowski of Brahm's Cello Sonata in E Minor, Opus 38. 

Of course, all this beautiful Music should be paired with some magnificent Art for visual as well as aural inspiration.  If you cruise on down the page for this week's edition of Monday's Undies, you will find them bulging to entice you (he he).  Then there is the the Hottie of the Day! who invites you to "Come Sail Away With Me" over on my tumblr.  Thanks for the visit, join me each day this week for a look at another Grand Master of the Cello.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!