Early Recordings 1925-1928
These early electrical recordings show a very different Pablo Casals  from the grunting old man most people remember. At the height of his technical  and musical powers, he plays these mostly charming little encores and  transcriptions with exquisite musicianship and breathtaking technical command  that remains outstanding today. Whether you want to hear Chopin piano pieces or  Wagner arias played on the cello is another issue; there is very little real  cello music on this disc. But for what is here, one could hardly imagine better  performances. The transfers are outstandingly lifelike, the program very  generous (76:19), the price reasonable.--Leslie Gerber