Lost in Plain Sight: Gaspar Cassadó’s Iberian Legacy

Featuring Mia Cooper, Beth McNinch, Katie Tertell and Aibhe McDonagh with special guest artist Dominic Salerni, violinist from the Grammy winning Attacca Quartet.

An exploration of the work of Spanish Catalan cellist and composer Gaspar Cassadó (1897-1966). Regarded as one of the top cellists of the 20th century whose work continues to be played worldwide, his name and history remain mostly forgotten in Spain and abroad. An early advocate for the modern cello, he played an active role in trying to expand the repertoire for cellists, composing and collaborating with composers of his time like Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-75) who dedicated a concerto to him. Today, his name remains connected to that of his world-famous teacher, Pablo Casals (1876-1973), and fraught by the complicated legacy of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Cassadó’s significance in cello performance and composition deserve a new look as his works reflect important musical trends in pre-war Europe regarding the concept of a regional or national sound. As part of a research project to recover his legacy while examining of what could be identified or understood as a “Spanish sound” in 20th century classical music, the recital presents a combination of lecture and performance, where the audience is invited to learn about the life and work of Cassadó in conversation with the work of other composers.

Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)

String Quartet No. 60 in C Major

La musica notturna delle strade di Madrid (for 2 violins, viola and 2 cellos)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

String Quartet in F Major (1903)

Gaspar Cassadó (1897-1966)

String Quartet No 1 in f minor (1929)

Rosi Song, guest speaker

H. Rosi Song holds a Chair in Hispanic Studies at Durham University. A specialist in 20th and 21st century Spanish culture and literature, she is the author of Lost in Transition: Constructing Memory in Contemporary Spain (Liverpool UP, 2016) and the co-editor of Traces of Contamination: Unearthing Francoist Legacy in Contemporary Spanish Discourse (Bucknell UP, 2005) and Towards a Cultural Archive of la Movida: Back to the Future (Farleigh Dickinson UP, 2013). She is one of the Series Editors for Culinaria, a new book series from the University of Toronto Press on Food Studies and serves on the editorial board for Toronto Iberic Series as well. Her most recent book, co-written with Anna Riera, is A Taste of Barcelona. The History of Catalan Cooking and Eating (Rowman and Littlefield, 2019).