by Paul Eliefrom Georgetown University
Knock on Wood
In the morning in London, a man went into a small room, took out a wooden instrument, and played some music before a microphone.
In the afternoon in San Antonio, a man went into a small room, took out a wooden instrument, and played some music before a microphone.
The man in London was the cellist Pablo Casals. The man in San Antonio was the blues guitarist and singer Robert Johnson. The day was a Monday in the fall of 1936 (November 25, to be precise), and it’s no stretch to say that the recordings the two musicians made that day — two of Bach’s cello suites, and a dozen or more of Johnson’s blues — are the two most significant solo musical recordings of the twentieth century.
Audio wizard Joe Richman produced a Radio Diaries episode about that day, which is dramatized in detail in my book Reinventing Bach. It aired on NPR on the 75th anniversary of the day, and it’s now Radio Diaries’ current podcast.
That’s Abbey Road Studios, where Casals undertook his Bach recordings. Some other great musicians made records there, and I don’t mean Pink Floyd.
