Pablo Casals, the legendary Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor, is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and arguably 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.
It is a very great pleasure to
present this Casals edition of the Bach Cello Suites to
cellists throughout the world. The preparation of this masterpiece and
other works for cello was clearly a labor of love for Madeline Foley,
Casals' protégée. She was deeply committed to handing down his legacy
to future generations of cellists. Fortunately for all musicians, she
succeeded in attaining this goal, even though she herself did not live
to see her faithful work appear in print. After her death in 1982, the
project was guided towards its final completion with the assistance of
David Soyer of the Guarneri Quartet. Additional critical and editorial
information was provided by Marta Montanez Istomin, wife of Casals from
1957 until the time of his death.
Charles Avsharian, Publisher
Continental Publishing Company
