Robert Casadesus
Robert Casadesus was the quintessential French musician, a passionate perfectionist who carried the Gallic virtues of precision, clarity, and elegance into the mid-twentieth century as an embodiment of the living spirit of classicism -- precision animated by passion, clarity attained through sensuous scintillance, and elegance as the expression of the most lucidly aware animation. Born in Paris to a distinguished family of musicians -- his father and three uncles enjoyed careers as performers and composers -- Robert took first prize for piano at the Paris Conservatoire at age 14. Studies with Louis Diémer -- early enthusiast of the French clavicenistes, premiere soloist and dedicatee of Franck's Variations symphoniques for piano and orchestra -- graced Casadesus with the mantle of the inheritor. In 1921 he married fellow Diémer pupil Gabrielle (Gaby) L'Hôte. The following year he earned Ravel's friendship with his performance of Gaspard de la nuit, which led to European tours with the composer and legendary soprano Madeleine Grey. "You are a composer," Ravel wrote, "because you have the courage to play 'Gibet' as I imagined it, that is, as a slow piece...And virtuoso pianists do not want to play it like that. They double the tempo and make it much faster. That is why I think you are a composer." Indeed, Casadesus' catalog eventually embraced some 68 works, including seven symphonies, concertos for two and three pianos and orchestra, 27 chamber works, and 20 works for piano. It is music for connoisseurs, music of formal concision not devoid of passionate expression, but highly wrought, suggestive, and understated in, typically, lyrically attenuated slow movements, tender and strange, and conclusions of fastidious tumult. It is the antithesis of Mahler's confessional expansiveness, while Stravinsky's neo-Classical manner seems gimmicky and carnivalesque by comparison. Casadesus was a distinguished teacher, beginning his career as professor of piano at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau in 1921, and replacing Isidor Philipp as its head in 1935. But it is primarily as a touring pianist and recording artist that Casadesus is remembered, appearing throughout Europe and the United States over 2,000 times in a career spanning half a century, often in duo-piano recitals with his wife. His authoritative, exhilarating recordings of the Mozart piano concertos with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, the Beethoven violin sonatas and the Franck Sonata with Zino Francescatti, Franck's Variations symphoniques and d'Indy's Symphonie cévenole with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the piano works of Ravel -- to name but the most prominent -- are among the very greatest.
© TiVo
Artistas similares
-
Beethoven: Sonates pour piano et violon
Zino Francescatti, Robert Casadesus
Música de cámara - Editado por Mve el 10-04-2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Robert Casadeus plays Weber, Franck and Ravel (Live Recording)
Clásica - Editado por Artemisia el 23-02-2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, vol. 10
Robert Casadesus, Clara Haskil, George Szell, New York Philharmonic
Clásica - Editado por ArnebAudio el 05-03-2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Casadesus: Nonetto, Op. 45 & Sextuor, Op. 58
Clásica - Editado por Sony Classical el 01-03-2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barbirolli Society, Vol. 1
Robert Casadesus, New York Philharmonic, Sir John Barbirolli
Clásica - Editado por APR el 01-09-1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 5, 9 & 10
Clásica - Editado por Sony Classical el 16-03-2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Sonatas for Piano Nos. 14, 26, 24 & 23
Clásica - Editado por Sony Classical el 26-11-1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 14, 26, 24 & 23
Clásica - Editado por Sony Classical el 26-11-1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Debussy: Preludes, Book 1 / 6 Epigraphes Antiques / En Blanc Et Noir (Robert and Gaby Casadesus) (1956)
Robert Casadesus, Gaby Casadesus
Clásica - Editado por Naxos Classical Archives el 01-03-2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, "Emperor" (Casadesus, Mitropoulos) (1955)
Robert Casadesus, New York Philharmonic, Dimitri Mitropoulos
Clásica - Editado por Naxos Classical Archives el 01-01-1956
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Violin Sonatas
Zino Francescatti, Robert Casadesus
Clásica - Editado por Sony Classical el 16-03-2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pianistas Famosos, Robert Casadesus - Le Tombeau De Couperin
Clásica - Editado por Hhpvrdigital el 19-01-2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Four Great Pianists-Vol.3
Clásica - Editado por Documents el 01-09-2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Camille Saint-Saens
Clásica - Editado por Documents el 01-09-2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Maurice Ravel, Robert Casadesus
Chanson francesa - Editado por Rooster Records el 29-07-2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Sonaten für Klavier und Violine
Zino Francescatti, Robert Casadesus
Música de cámara - Editado por Mve el 10-04-2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorak, A.: Piano Concerto in G Minor / Liszt, F.: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Weber, C.M.: Konzertstuck in F Minor (Casadesus) (1952, 1954)
Robert Casadesus, Rudolf Firkusny, The Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell
Clásica - Editado por Naxos Classical Archives el 01-01-2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Master of Classic Music, Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 44, Symphony No. 3, Op. 78
Robert Casadesus, Arthur Rodzinski, New York Philharmonic
Clásica - Editado por Oscardigital el 18-08-1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart, W.A.: Symphony No. 39 / Concerto for 2 Pianos in E Flat Major / Piano Concerto No. 12 (Casadesus, Szell) (1947, 1955)
The Cleveland Orchestra, Robert Casadesus, George Szell, Gaby Casadesus
Clásica - Editado por Naxos Classical Archives el 01-01-1957
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Milestones Of A Piano Legend - Robert Casadesus, Vol. 5
Clásica - Editado por Intense Media GmbH el 04-10-2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lizst: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major
Clásica - Editado por Discover Classical Music el 10-01-2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo