----Original Message-----[relayed as received, except for tiny, factually
unimportant deletions:]
From: [X]
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2001 12:55 AM
To: Texas-Paule@t-online.de
Subject: Re: FW: A timely footnote on Pau Casals: Heifetz vs. Kreisler
Thanks to the lady for her nice words re: our trio.(ISR) However I am
mortified to read inaccuracies in the Isaac Stern Memoir. (He is
recuperating
from major surgery and doing very well,even beginning to play again!) Since
I
was there in the flesh during every moment in question, let me set things
straight.1/ I did not lay eyes on Casals until a month before the first
festival in 1950 when I paid him a special visit from Paris. Sasha Schneider
had persuaded him to invite me (the youngest)and Isaac (the next youngest)
to
participate and record in the festival, on the grounds that the :most gifted
young in America should be exposed to that marvelous influence--how right he
was!).I had neither played nor recorded nor studied anything with the great
man prior to that meeting.
2/ The microphone in the cello:1952 festival. Casals was not sick on the
night of the recording of the 2 viola quintet.Tortelier was always supposed
to participate in that.After all, he was the cellist that Casals rated the
highest among the younger ones and he had to have some presance in the
recordings, not only as 1st cello in the orchestra at previous festivals. He
was to record other chamber works as well.
3/Obviously Isaac and/or his collaborator got the Opus 111 Quintet mixed up
the the Opus 18 2-cello sextett. That is the one that Casals and Madeline
Foley were the 1st and 2nd cello in. I was presant at both sessions. They
were
indeed intoxicated at times when everyone was caught up in love with the
Master,
and he equally smitten and reborn again. True is true but facts are facts.
Finally I would like to tell you that our ISR trio was born after I had the
privilege of recording 6 great trios with Casals and Sasha. I am, in a way,
even more proud of those because I was 24 years old and those performances
still stand up musically for me--- The ISR ones owe alot to Casals'
inspiration. In case you didn't know it , a certain Mr. Paul Moor was a
very
engaged (existentially) witness and great photographer of many of these
times. To all the langweilich above one could say "So what? Wot was, was.
Splitting memory hairs is for feinfriseurs. (hey, not bad!) Y'all have a
good
one! HHHumbert
Paul Moor
Texas-Paule@t-online.de
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Feb 11 2001 - 01:08:00 PST