CD-1187(12) CASALS FESTIVAL AT PRADES, Vol 2:

 Live Concert Performances, 1953-62; Includes over 12 hours of previously unreleased material featuring Casals, Menuhin, Végh, Serkin, Horszowski,and  Kempff, among others. Restoration engineer: Maggi Payne; Notes: Harris Goldsmith. [ADD]  Total Time: 14 hrs 30 min.  UPC# 017685-118722. Not for sale in France & Germany.  SPECIAL PRICE: 12 CDs for the price of 8!

CD 1 (1:10:27):  BACH: Sonata 2 in A Minor; 7 July 1956. BACH: Partita 2 in D Minor; 9 July 1955. BACH: Sonata 3 in C Major; 8 July 1955 w/ Yehudi Menuhin, violin. CD 2 (1:08:36):  BACH: Partita 3 in E Major; 8 July 1955. w/ Menuhin, violin. BACH: Suite 3 in C Major; 2 July 1955 w/  Pablo Casals, cello. BACH: Suite 5 in C Minor; 3 July 1956 w/ Casals, cello.   CD 3 (1:16:26):  BACH: Concerto (in the Italian Style) in F Major; 11 July 1956 w/ Rudolf Serkin, piano. BEETHOVEN: Sonata 30 in E Major, Op 109; 20 June 1954 w/ Serkin, piano. SCHUMANN: Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13; 12 July 1956 w/ Serkin, piano. BEETHOVEN: Sonata 31 in Ab Major, Op 110; 15 July 1959 w/ Wilhelm Kempff, piano.  CD 4 (1:16 37):  BACH: Preludes and Fugues from The Well Tempered Clavier, Book II, nos. 14, 15, 24; 17 July 1956. MOZART: Fantasy; 1 August 1962. MOZART: Sonata in C Minor; 1 August 1962. BEETHOVEN: Sonata 32 in C Minor, Op 111; 9 June 1954 w/ Mieczislaw Horszowski, piano.  CD 5 (1:14:17):   SCHUMANN: Kreisleriana, Op. 16; 1 August 1962. BRAHMS: Fantasias, Op. 116; 11 July 1958 w/ Horszowski, piano. MOZART: Violin Sonata Nr. 32; 7 July 1956 w/ Menuhin, violin and Horszowski, piano. CASALS: The Birds; 18 July 1956 w/ Casals, cello and Horszowski, piano.  CD 6 (1:17:51):  SCHUBERT: 6 Lieder; 8 July 1959 w/  Victoria de los Angeles, soprano and Horszowski, piano. BRAHMS: Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 38, for cello and piano; 19 July 1958 w/  Casals, cello, with Horszowski, piano. BEETHOVEN: Sonata in A Major, Op. 47 (Kreutzer) for violin and piano; 15 July 1959 w/ Christian Ferras, violin and Kempff, piano.  CD 7 (1:12:05): MOZART: Divertimento in Eb Major for violin, viola and cello; 16 June 1953 w/ Joseph Fuchs, violin; Lillian Fuchs, viola; Paul Tortelier, cello. MENDELSSOHN: Trio No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 66; 15 July 1959 w/ Ferras, violin, Kempff, piano and Casals, cello.   CD 8 (1:07:15) MOZART: Quintet in G Minor; 11 July 1956(?) w/ the Végh Quartet  (Végh – Zöldy – Janzer - Szabó) w/ Ernst Wallfisch, Viola II. BRAHMS: Quartet in C Minor, Op. 51; 20 July 1958 w/ Végh Quartet (see above).  CD 9 (1:13:31): BACH: Cantata and Mass excerpts; 2 July 1955 w/  Bach Aria Group (Eleanor Steber, soprano; Carol Smith, alto; Jan Peerce, tenor; Norman Farrow, bass; Maurice Wilk, violin; Bernard Greenhouse, cello; Erich Itor Kahn, piano; Julius Baker, flute; Robert Bloom, oboe.   CD 10 (1:19:14): BACH: Cantata in G Major: Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten; 19 June 1953 w/ Maria Stader, soprano, the Festival Orchestra and Casals, conductor. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major; 19 June 1953 w/ the Festival Orchestra and Casals, conductor. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major; 24 June 1953 w/ the Festival Orchestra and Casals, conductor. MOZART: "Ch'io mi scordi di te?" -- Recitativo con Rondo; 9 July 1959 w/ de Los Angeles, the Collegium Musicum of London and Casals, conductor. MOZART: Divertimento in D Major; 3 August 1962 w/ the Végh Chamber Orchestra.   CD 11 (1:04:01): BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15; 24 June 1953 w/ Zorszowski, piano, the Festival Orchestra and Casals, conductor. BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb Major, Op. 19; 9 July 1959 w/ Horszowski, piano, the Festival Orchestra and Casals, conductor.  CD 12 (1:10:58): MOZART: Sinfonia concertante in Eb Major; 19 June 1953 w/ Fuchs, violin; Fuchs, viola and the Festival Orchestra, Casals, conductor. BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4 in Bb Major, Op. 60; 8 July 1959 w/ the Collegium Musicum of London, Casals, conductor.

BUZZ: Volume I of this 2-part series (CD-1113, 13 CDs) has been one of our all-time international best sellers. Here are some critical comments:

“The collection is a must-have for chamber music lovers, who will be pleased and provoked by it, but never bored.”
—B. A. Nilsson, Andante.com

“Were I to nominate a set that encapsulates, in its musical sincerity and spiritual address, the most vital qualities of an art that readers of this magazine hold dear to their hearts, then this would probably be it. “                                                                       —Rob Cowan, Gramophone

“Best of all, these recordings are live. They date from an era when risk-taking was common in the concert hall, producing an excitement lost in the re-takes of the recording studio — an excitement that’s all too rare in today’s play-it-safe musical world…”
—Robert Layton, BBC Music Magazine

 “As music-making at its sublime best, as it was a long, increasingly remote time ago, this material is all irreplaceable.”
—Laurence Vittes, Classic Record Collector