Classical Music | Cello Music

Recorded on 05/15/2013, uploaded on 11/14/2013

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Arranged by Gaspar Cassadó

Serious doubts regarding the authenticity of Frescobaldi’s Toccata have surfaced since the time the preeminent cellist Gaspar Cassadó first presented his brilliant arrangement of the work in public. When asked about the music’s source, Cassadó offered that he had discovered a manuscript for solo organ with Frescobaldi’s name in the archives of Barcelona’s La Merced where the cellist’s father had acted as maestro di cappella for many years. He elaborated that one could not be too sure Frescobaldi himself had written the work, but that several passages bore the early Baroque master’s characteristic style. The Toccata was most likely pseudonymously written by Cassadó’s pen to garner instant credibility. It nonetheless captures the fantasia and fugato elements reminiscent of Frescobaldi’s virtuosic organ toccatas.      Yves Dharamraj

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.