Spanish composer and cellist Gaspar Cassadó was born in Barcelona on 30 Sept 1897, and died in Madrid on Christmas Eve, 1966.  A son of Joaquín Cassadó, the organist and composer, he began his studies with his father, continued at the Barcelona Conservatory, and went to Paris in 1910 for lessons with Casals.  His international career began in 1918, and he showed himself a fastidious artist with a generous warmth of tone and sure technique.  He gave recitals with such pianists as Bauer, Rubinstein and Iturbi and joined Menuhin and Kentner for piano trios; in the Brahms Double Concerto he was a notable partner to such players as Huberman, Szigeti and Jelly d’Arányi (for the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Brahms centenary concert).  Under Mengelberg he recorded the Pfitzner Cello Concerto. 

As a composer influenced by Falla and Ravel, Cassadó produced an Oratorio (1946), a D minor Cello Concerto, Rapsodia catalana for orchestra (1928) and a considerable body of chamber music.  He taught at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and in 1959 married the Japanese pianist Chieko Hara.

Robert Anderson, in the New Grove.