A while ago the oft-disputed subject of Landowska's famous quip on playing Bach *see below* came up and I mentioned that somewhere in my archives I had a letter clarifying the subject. I found it finally; it is written by the recently departed Denise Restout, also a harpsichordist and lifelong companion of Landowska's (after Landowska's first marriage), and was sent to Clavier magazine and published in Dec. 2002 issue. I quote in full:
"I was present when Wanda Landoswka spoke the famous quip about performing Bach, 'You play Bach your way, and I play it his way.' She said this to Pablo Casals, not Rosalyn Tureck, as many believe and was quoted in the October [Clavier] issue. Here is the story.
Casals resided at Prades, Pyrenees Orientales, away from the Spanish government, and came to visit Landowska on June 26, 1941 in Banyuls sur mer, a few miles from where she had lived in St. Leu and left under the threat of Nazi invasion. By that time she had received a Pleyel harpsichord, thanks to a generous loan of money from a student, and housed it in a small ground-floor room, not far from our apartment.
Casals came with his secretary and a couple of friends, Mr and Mrs Alavedra. Wanda played for them, and she and Casals discussed some aspects of Bach interpretation, especially the question of ornamention. Casals asked Wanda why she played the trills starting with the upper note, admitting that he was not certain that it was always the case. Wanda explained her reasons to him, and for further evidence, she asked me to go to the apartment to fetch the original edition of Leopold Mozart's Violinschule/i], one of the very few precious books we had saved from St. Leu. It has a clear description of the way trills should be realized. Casals listened, looked at the book, but still was not convinced. So, with a smile, Wanda said to him, 'Let us not fight anymore. Continue to play Bach your way, and I his way.' They both laughed and went on to discuss other subjects.
Years later I was surprised that this story was attributed to Landowska towards Rosalyn Tureck. I had no proof of it and always doubted that it ever happened that way. Teri Noel Towe, who knew both Casals and Tureck, corrected this distortion of facts in a letter to me:
'In June 1967, at the first of what proved to be a substantial number of joyous and wonderful visits with Pablo Casals, I asked him - with the temerity that only a teenager has - if the story was true. He burst into his inimitable sunny smile and nodded his head vigorously in agreement. He then not only acknowledged the veracity of the story but also told me that Wanda Landowska had been a friend of his since the time of her arrival in Paris in 1903.
`I also have the good fortune to number Rosalyn Tureck among my friends, and many years ago I asked her if Wanda Landowska had ever made this remark to her. Not only did she tell me that Landowska had not, but also Tureck went on to express her deep admiration for Landwoska's playing. She then told me with both incredulity and annoyance that people were now going around telling the story with Tureck, rather than Landowska, as the protagonist and that she wished that people who recounted this story told it accurately and fairly.'
Denise Restout
The Landowska Center
Lakeville, CT"
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Walter Ramsey
Topic: Landowska and Bach