The gigantic shadow of Pau Casals continues to be long and very effective

We have said it on several occasions and now we must return to it: there are concerts that go beyond conventions and their own borders. Because they end up becoming first-rate events in cultural matters. And the evening with which the Palau de la Música officially inaugurated its season was one of these. First of all, it must be said that this was so regardless of the artistic assessment we may make (and which we will make). Because the centrality of the figure of Pau Casals, in the midst of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his birth (which will take place on December 29), means that the shadow of the universal man from El Vendrell continues to be long and highly effective in bringing together musicians and spectators eager to enjoy good and well-crafted music.The recent controversy derived from the tribute to Casals at the Congress of Deputies, with a boycott included by Junts, must not make us forget the universality of the author of El pessebre, despite that emotional and sincere declaration of Catalan identity, in 1971, at the headquarters of the United Nations. Because Pau Casals goes much further, as a musician and as a man, as an artist and as a human being committed to just causes that transcend languages and borders.That said, the appropriate concert on Monday night at the Palau de la Música was destined to be an act of culture and civility, with music as the protagonist.The two religious pieces by Casals (Nigra sum and O vos omnes) provided one of the most emotional moments of the evening, due to the quality of the pieces and the profound spirituality they breathe. Not to mention the revisiting that Bernat Vivancos has done of El cant dels ocells with a language that pivots between yesterday and today, with noble craftsmanship on the part of the Catalan musician and with the cellist voice of Pablo Ferrández and the Escolania de Montserrat.One of the greatest attractions was hearing the final section of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with Joan Maragall's translation into Catalan. It made perfect sense to remember that July 18, 1936, when Casals said goodbye forever to the Palau de la Música, its singers, and the country with that Song of Joy that would give way to a bitter period in our history. A good performance by the Orfeó Català with the Vallès Symphony, although the text sounded with some inaccuracies and a partial understanding of the words translated by the poet from Sant Gervasi. Under the direction of Xavier Puig, the piece had expressively intense moments, although one would have liked a deeper reading of the emblematic movement. Well-coordinated soloist team, formed by soprano Marta Mathéu, mezzo-soprano Gemma Coma-Alabert, tenor Roger Padullés, and baritone Ferran Albrich.The sinuosities of J.S. Bach's first Cello Suite (rediscovered, along with the other five, by an adolescent Casals) had in the hands of Pablo Ferrández the assurance of a job well done, a quality also exhibited by the members of the Quartet Casals in the service of Franz Schubert's String Quintet in C major, D. 956, op. post. 163 by Franz Schubert.Moving concert, then, more than for the quality of the performances, for what it represented in relation to one of our great men most universal.