David Blum (3) (1935–1998)

This is a book for string quartet players, mainly on technique and ways to balance each player's contribution to the music as a whole. There are copious bars of sheet music representing technique of each instrument with the other instruments also shown on the sheet music. The target audience is the advanced player and mostly those who are already in a quartet. The format is a conversation-interview between Blum and the Guarneri Quartet members. The chapter titled "A fifth presence" is the essence of ensemble music. Read that chapter.… (meer)

Pablo Casals was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He made many recordings throughout his career, of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, also as conductor, but Casals is perhaps best remembered for the recording of the Bach Cello Suites he made from 1936 to 1939. Casals and the Art of Interpretation is perhaps the best book about his art and music. In this engaging book Blum analyzes and explicates the principles of music interpretation as demonstrated by Casals in his playing, conducting and living. Whether it is the need to produce a singing tone in a classic composition by Richard Wagner or the importance of design in shaping the themes of a composition - every aspect of the music he was playing or conducting was of importance to him. Blum uses precise musical terminology combined with detailed musical examples in his lucid and revealing interpretation of Casals' art. The result is a text that I found readable and easily grasped and, while I admittedly have more than average training in music, the book should be understandable for most general readers. The highlight of the book for me was both the chapter on "Casals and Bach" and the final discussion of a rehearsal of Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony". It is here that the heart of Pablo Casals is on display and the result is that I will never listen to these works the same way again.… (meer)