Gaspar Cassadó: Suite for Cello Solo
Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Solo Suite II in D minor, BWV 1008 (Sarabande)
Elisenda Fábregas: Danses de la terra (Catalan Dances)
Marin Marais: Les Voix Humaines (arr. Roger Morelló Ros)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Solo Suite I in G major, BWV 1007 (Sarabande)
Marc Migó: Variations on the Name of Casals
Traditional: El cant dels ocells (The song of the Birds) - arr. Pablo Casals/Roger Morelló Ros
Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Solo Suite IV in E flat major, BWV 1010 (Sarabande)

Sitting alone on stage, instrument at hand, in front of an anticipatory and attentive audience, is one of the most intimidating and humbling experiences I can imagine. I've been there myself. Not only do you need to be fully prepared, but in order to connect and communicate with the audience, you need to efface yourself and allow the music to speak for itself. On a grand piano or pipe organ, which is my case, you can impress the listener with harmonic clusters to thunderous effect, but on a stringed instrument like the cello it's a different story. Nothing stands between you and the music as you become the composer's emissary.

Catalonian cellist Roger Morelló Ros certainly puts this across here as he aims to emulate and pay homage to the great Pablo Casals, one of the early proponents to establish the instrument's reputation as the perfect vehicle for warmth of musical expression. Variety within a musical program is also a key ingredient in keeping an audience engaged. His choice here to combine pieces from the Baroque period championed by Casals himself, with newly commissioned contemporary works that honor the man himself, makes for an interesting collection that explores different facets of the cello, and forestalls ear fatigue as well.

The cello Roger Morelló Ros plays in this recording is a 1743 Andreas Castagneri. Its warm and lyrical characteristics come to the forefront in this finely engineered recording.