Lost in Plain Sight: Gaspar Cassadó’s Iberian Legacy

Chances are that most Catalans and Spaniards know or have heard the name Pablo (or Pau) Casals. Chances are also that most Catalans and Spaniards do not recognise the name of his pupil, Gaspar Cassadó. Both are world-renown cellists of the 20^th century with important careers, and the latter even more so as a respected composer of classical music. However, fraught by the complicated legacy of the Spanish Civil War and overshadowed by the global fame of Pablo Casals, his maestro, Cassadó’s significance in cello performance and composition never received the attention they deserved. As part of a project to recover his legacy and an examination of what could be identified as a “Spanish sound” in 20^th century classical music, our research led us to Japan, where Cassadó’s wife Chieko Hara, a renowned pianist in her own right, retired to after Cassadó’s death. After Hara’s death, her and her husband’s collection of papers and manuscripts were donated to Tamagawa University. In partnership with cellist Katie Tertell, we offer a recital on Cassadó, a combination of lecture and performance, where audiences are invited to learn about the cellist composer and his work. The program will offer a selection of excerpted works by Cassadó and other pieces for cello to offer a context for his work.

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 numerous books including 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). 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).

Katie Tertell resides in the UK and is Artistic Director and Founder of the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival, headquartered in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. A former member of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Katie now curates several of her own projects and collaborations alongside performance and recording work with numerous European symphony and chamber orchestras. Katie is a recipient of several honours and awards including an “Exceptional Talent” visa awarded by Arts Council England and teaches cello at Durham University (UK).