The contrasts are quite startling. Pablo Casals died in 1973, Amit Peled was born that year. Casals was a diminutive 5-feet-4, Peled is a towering 6-feet-5. Casals was bald, Peled has a lion’s mane of long black hair.
One thing unites these two cellists from opposite ends of the Mediterranean: a 1733 Goffriller.
Peled, a virtuoso performer who was born on an Israeli kibbutz and studied with Bernard Greenhouse, one of Casals’ most famous students, is the latest cellist to be granted use of the magnificent instrument Casals acquired in 1913 for a reported 18,000 francs.
The instrument recently underwent a year-long refurbishment.
Casals called it “my best friend.”
Peled calls it his “Pablo.”