Pau Casals Museum: Concert celebrating the 150th anniversary of Juli Garreta's birth, with Daniel Blanch and Romain Garioud
julio 31, 2025Núria Ballester, director of the Pau Casals Museum, opened the event and introduced Joaquim
Rabasseda[1],
curator of the Juli Garreta Year
[1] Joaquim Rabasseda i Matas is a composer with a degree in Art
History and Music History, and Science from the University of Granada. He also
holds a PhD from the University of Barcelona. His thesis was entitled
"Jaume Pahissa. A Case in Musical Analysis." Rabasseda is a professor
at ESMUC (Catalonia College of Music) and, between 2012 and 2021, he headed the
Department of Musicology. He is currently the director of Research, Quality,
and Innovation.
The pieces were an invitation to intimacy,
not necessarily sad, but serene. And it was possible thanks to a sensitive
performance that resulted in something almost meditative, a total connection
with the moment, an experience of peace of mind, a food for the spirit.
The music room at the Museu Pau Casals was
another reason to offer well-being, a feeling of welcome, and closeness. This
room, located in the building that was Pau Casals' summer residence, is an
unforgettable place for everyone who visits it, especially if you are one of
the musicians who play there or if you are attending a concert.
(Link
to the Pau Casals Foundation website with information about the concert)
Concert programme
Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828). Sonata in A minor “Arpeggione” D.821
Today, this piece is fundamental in the
cello repertoire. Schubert composed it for “Arpeggione”, a six-stringed
instrument similar in shape to the cello, but with frets and a tuning similar
to that of the guitar. This instrument was created by Johan Georg Staufer in
1823, but it did not gain widespread acceptance. It is known as the arpeggione,
and also as the Love Guitar, because it can produce a sound similar to the
strumming of a guitar.
![]() |
Arpeggione made by Johan Georg Staufer (1831) The Met Public Domain |
The adaptation of this sonata for cello and the incorporation into the repertoire of this instrument is due to the collaboration of Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976) and Mstislav Rostropovich (1927 – 2007).
Juli Garreta i Arboix (1875–1925) Sonata
for cello and piano in F Major dedicated to Pau Casals
This piece was premiered by Pau Casals and
Blai Net[1]
(1886–1948) on piano. It was on 3 May 1923 at the Palau de la Música Catalana
in Barcelona. It was organised by the Associació de Música ‘Da Camera’ de
Barcelona (Da Camera Music Association of Barcelona). The same year, it was
published by Josep Grahit Grau (1883–1960) [2]. According to information found in
the Municipal Archive of Sant Feliu de Guixols, Juli Garreta had wanted to
write this sonata since 1909.
![]() |
Juli Garreta CC 4.0 |
They performed as an encore Rêverie (Shumanienne)
by Joan Lamote de Grignon i Bocquet (1872 – 1949). The name Schumanienne comes from the fact
that the work was inspired by the romantic style of Robert Schuman.
[1] Blai Net was a child prodigy who was already playing the piano at
the age of 7 and performed as a soloist at Midnight Mass in the Church of
Colonia Güell at the age of 9 (24 December 1895). From 1917 onwards, he played
as a duo with Casals for 19 years.
[2] Lawyer, writer, and journalist, son of historian Emili Grahit (1850 - 1912). He was secretary of the Barcelona Provincial Monuments Commission and a member of the Academy of History.
The performers
Between Daniel Blanch (piano) and Romain
Garioud (cello), we can sense a connection in their playing, a balanced and
emotional style.
Daniel Blanch
He is a pianist who studied with Maria
Canals[1]
(1914 – 2010) and Raquel Millàs at the ‘Ars Nova Music Academy’ (Acadèmia de
Música Ars Nova). He furthered his piano studies with Maria Tipo (1931 – 2025)
in Florence and Brigitte Engerer (1952 – 2012) in Paris. He also received
masterclasses from Alicia de Larrocha (1923 – 2009), Josep Colom (1947), and Alberto Portugheis (1941). He is the founder
and president of the Joan Manén Association (Associació Joan Manén) This organisation aims to research and
promote Catalan musical heritage.
Romain Garioud
Cellist. He won the Rostropovich
Competition in Paris in 2001 and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2002,
among others. He has given several concerts and masterclasses in Europe. He has
recorded with Radio France and Mezzo Chanel. He plays a Nicolò Gagliano violin
from 1760. (Link with the
full biography)
[1] Maria Canals i Cendrós was a passionate pianist, but she also
devoted herself to the professional development of young pianists. She founded the
Ars Nova Music Academy, but she also left us a foundation that annually holds
the Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona. (Link to the website)
Recordings by Romain Garioud and Daniel Blanch to bring us closer to Catalan composers
Mar Plana (Calm Sea)
This CD featuring the complete works of
Juli Garreta for cello and piano was released in 2021. The CD includes the
following pieces:
Mar Plana
Sonata in A major
Joguina (Toy)
Mazurka
Romança (Romance)
The composer dedicated the pieces to Pablo
Casals (Sonata and Joguina) and Bonaventura Dini[1]
(Mar Plana and Mazurka).
Rêverie. Evocations and dreams
This CD is a mosaic of compositions by
Catalan composers born in the second half of the 19th century:
By Joan Lamote
de Grignon
Rêverie
Canción para
María (Song for María)
By Joaquim
Cassado (1867 - 1926)
Más Ultra
(Beyond)
Lamento (Lament)
By Joan Manén
(1883 - 1971)
Egloge et chanson
grecque
By Enric
Morera (1865 - 1942)
Oriental
Record (Memory)
By Eduard
Toldrà (1895 - 1962)
Ave Maria
By Agustí Grau
(1893 - 1964)
Bell son
(Beautiful Dream)
By Frédéric
Mompou (1893 - 1987)
El son (The
Dream)
By Francesc
Pujol (1878 - 1945)
Una meravellosa
rondalla (A Wonderful Rondalla)
By Joan
Baptista Lambert (1884 - 1945)
Somni eròtic
(Erotic Dream)
This CD was
edited in 2024
[1] Bonaventura Dini Fazzi (1876–1936) was a friend of Pablo Casals,
also born in El Vendrell, and a musician with Benvingut Socias i Mercader
(1877–1952). Bonaventura Dini was a cellist and worked at the Milan Opera
House, where he lived between 1909 and 1920. He had a tenor voice, and he
arrived to sing as a soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Pau Casals
Orquestra. He was the first cello of the Pau Casals Orchestra. Benvingut Socias i Mercadé was also a friend
of Casals and an internationally renowned pianist. He played with Casals in
London, Berlin, Munich, Washington, and New York. The three musicians (Casals,
Dini, and Socias) were friends since childhood and all took their first music
lessons with Carles Casals, Pablo Casals' father.
The friendship
between Juli Garreta and Pablo Casals
Juli Garreta was
a composer passionately admired by Casals and Igor Stravinsky. His works were
known outside Catalonia because Casals performed them in his concerts.
After Garreta's
death, Casals was the main person who worked to preserve his legacy. Casals
said the following words in relation to Garreta's death: ‘I have lost a friend,
and Catalonia has lost a genius.’
Casals'
admiration for Garreta was so well known that even when the monument in memory
of Garreta was unveiled in Girona (14th and 15th July
1930), a text in Scherzando magazine said: ‘...especially Pablo Casals,
Garreta's friend.’ As if no one else were friends with the composer. Casals
himself wrote these words on the same occasion of the monument's unveiling
ceremony:
![]() |
Monument dedicated to Juli Garreta in Girona Zarateman CC 1.0 Public Domain |
“He is a great man. I know of no one with
such profound intuition. A man who hardly ever left his village and wrote such
beautiful music”.
Casals also
admired Lamote de Grignon.
![]() |
Joan Lamote de Grignon Il·lustracio Catalana 191 (27-01-1907) Unknown photographer |
There is a letter
written in 1925 by Casals to Lamote de Grignon after a concert by the Barcelona
Municipal Band, of which Lamote was the conductor, in which he said:
![]() |
Palau Belles Arts Banda Municipal de Música Conductor: Lamote de Grignon Year 1927 Photographer: Jaume Ribera Llopis |
‘Barcelona must be eternally grateful to
you for the affection you have shown it and your great qualities as a great
musician...’
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