Therese Casadesus Rawson Interview

Matt Crawford speaks with Therese Casadesus Rawson about her book, My Musical Notes: A Journey in Classical Piano between the World Wars and Beyond. This is actually her mother's book which she has translated and rereleased on the 25th anniversary of her mother Gaby Casadesus' passing.  Chronicling nearly a century of music, Gaby Casadesus’ My Musical Notes, recounts the French pianist's remarkable career as half of one of the most extraordinary husband and wife teams in twentieth century classical music, with her husband Robert Casadesus. Told in a lively conversational tone, she evokes the delicate balance between touring and family life, maintaining her own solo career and traveling the world while raising three children. Her decades-long teaching imparted the stylistic legacy of Debussy, Fauré and Ravel, a personal friend to both Robert and Gaby, to generations of young pianists. In this memoir, we experience the bustling Paris of the 1920s and 30s as well as numerous adventures touring North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia while championing French piano repertoire as the internationally recognized duo Robert and Gaby Casadesus. She also details her encounters and collaborations with the greatest names of 20th century classical music: Fauré, Ravel, Stravinsky, Poulenc, Bruno Walter, Toscanini, Szell, Boulez, Bernstein as well as other celebrities of the era such as Albert Einstein, with whom she played Mozart, Elsa Schiaparelli, Joan Miró and more.