Aldo Parisot, the Cellist: The Importance of The Circle by Susan Hawkshaw (review)

Aldo Parisot is described by Janos Starker as "the best cello teacher of his time," as well as one of the top performers on the violoncello of the twentieth century. This Brazilian-born cellist worked with various famous musicians including Heitor Villa-Lobos, Claude Monteux, Zubin Metha, Yo-Yo Ma, Dave Brubeck, and more. He is famous for his work with the Yale Cellos, including conducting them performing the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 for cello ensemble and No. 5 for cello ensemble and soprano, recording with these works by Villa-Lobos the transcribed works of Bach that Parisot arranged for cello choir. He was recorded performing many works for cello. Villa-Lobos dedicated his Second Cello Concerto to him, and he worked closely with Villa-Lobos while it was being composed, which was among the many works he premiered by various composers.

Chapter 1 begins with his life in Brazil, where he started playing at the age of seven and later made his professional debut at the age of twelve playing the Haydn D Major Cello Concerto. He began his studies with his stepfather, working only on solfège with him for two years before starting on the cello. He became known playing concerts around Brazil. In his twenties, an American, Carleton Sprague Smith, helped him meet Yehudi Menuhin, and then later arranged for him to go to the United States to study at the Curtis Institute.

Chapter 2 looks at "Establishing Himself in the United States: Yale, Hindemith, and the Koussevitzky Prize: A Big Hug from Koussevitzky". While he came to the United States to study with Emanuel Feuermann, four months before he arrived, Feuermann passed away. He instead studied in the United States at Yale University, but was still greatly influenced by the cellist Emanuel Feuermann. He first performed in the United States with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood at the age of twenty-six, where he won the Koussevitzky Prize and an appearance with the Springfield Symphony. This chapter explores the first time he met Paul Hindemith and explores the beginning of their admiration for each other.

Next in his life, Chapter 3 is "Realizing a Dream: An International Solo Career". This is a period in his life where he toured as a soloist and played with various orchestras and conductors as he premiered various works, establishing himself as an exceptional performer. This period included his first of ten engagements with the New York Philharmonic starting in 1951. There are also accounts of exchanges he had with Leopold Stokowski, later concerts with Bernstein, and then with Zubin Meta. There is an extensive section on the premiere of the Villa-Lobos concerto, and finally a focus on his friendship with Janos Starker, another famous cellist and teacher.

The next chapter is unnumbered and is titled "Entr'acte". This focuses on "Parisot as Painter: The Importance of the Circle". For him, the music and visual arts are connected, and one of these connections is expressed in the circle. In the 1940s, he was encouraged by various artists to pursue his second love, which was painting, and over time he had produced more than 3,000 works of art. These have been displayed at galleries, and many of his paintings hang in various locations, including the Yale School of Music. Photographic examples of his works are included in this chapter.

The next is Chapter 4, which is titled "Extraordinary Performances: The Parisonatina and Others; The Alaska Trip: A Beaver Coat for the Cello". This chapter starts with a trip to Alaska; Parisot wrote about his experiences for a piece in the Reader's Digest and in general the trip was covered by the media, giving him lots of publicity from this trip. Later the chapter looks at many of the special performances he gave, including a performance of the Hindemith Cello Concerto with the composer conducting the New York...