Steven Isserlis & Festival Pau Casals

Repertoire

Performers

Programme notes

For the Germanic world, Mozart was proof that the French had no artistic sensibility because they had not been able to recognize his genius had been badly received in 1778. Mozart himself had pointed “they are very close to the horribly rude and proud!”

Haydn was one of the few composers who was not affected by the nationalist disputes. In its time, the music of Haydn had been adopted throughout Europe. His Concerto in D major, was one of the pillars of the repertoire of Casals.

Vaughan Williams was 41 years old in 1914, but insisted on joining the army as portalliteres. Its magnificent Fantasy on a Theme of Thomas Tallis is constructed from a psalm that retracts the kings and princes of the futility of war.

A wave of Wagnerian passion had invaded the world in the late nineteenth century, but the war Wagner became the symbol of imperialism and the German spirit and its music was banished from many countries. However, there is nothing more peaceful than Siegfried Idyll, a work that pleased both Casals?