Along with Casals’s 1927 London Symphony disc of Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture (Naxos Historical 8.110976), these recordings – the Beethoven Symphony No. 1 being particularly rare – constitute the cellist’s complete pre-war recordings as a conductor.

The Barcelona sessions made with Casals’s own orchestra, formed in 1919, were set down in a concentrated period of work over five days in early July 1929. They are notable for their unfussy and direct approach to Beethoven that reveals the music in honest, unvarnished and expressive terms.

In Brahms’ Variations on the St Anthony Chorale, recorded just a few weeks before Casals’s 51st birthday, the London Symphony Orchestra plays with beauty of sound, excellent ensemble and characterful wind solos. Casals’s temperate direction stresses the lyrical and eloquent aspects of Brahms’ writing.

“A charismatic presence, [Casals] embraces each work with the passion of a devoted horticulturist tending his most precious flowers … I can't think of any other interpreters who so successfully underline the sheer inventiveness of Beethoven's writing.” Gramophone

Beethoven:

Symphony No. 1 in C major, Op. 21; Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, Op. 60; The Ruins of Athens, Op. 113 – Overture
Pablo Casals Orchestra of Barcelona, Pablo Casals
All recorded during July 1929 in the Olympia Theatre, Barcelona

Brahms:

Variations on a Theme by J. Haydn, Op 56a ‘St. Antoni Chorale’
London Symphony Orchestra, Pablo Casals
Recorded 6th December, 1927 in Queen’s Hall, London