TRIBUTE TO ISIDORA

Paul  Cassidy

Paul Cassidy Brodsky Quartet

Abstract

We were in Belgrade to give the first performance of Song of the Traveller in the Night, the clarinet quintet she had written for ourselves and Joan Enric Lluna. Unused to the complexities of her highly original and deeply personal writing, we were collectively struggling to lift the music off the page. You see, despite possessing an unmistakably unique voice – like for example, Janáček or Bartók – her, and their music, looks similar to lots of other music. Notwithstanding one or two distinguishing features, like those little notes with dots and lines followed by those all important rests, we, the interpreters are confronted by the same hieroglyphics, the same code that we are always faced with. Meeting and working with Isidora transformed how we saw and felt the music in an instant.

Author Biography

Paul Cassidy, Brodsky Quartet

Paul Cassidy was born in Derry in 1959. He has spent his entire working life with the Brodsky Quartet. Together they have played over 3000 concerts in more than 60 countries and made in excess of 70 recordings. Paul is a prolific arranger. In addition to his countless works for strings, he has collaborated with Elvis Costello, Bjork, Sting and many other eminent composers. Examples of these can be found on Brodsky albums such as; Petits Fours, Moodswings and The Juliet Letters, also on Bjork’s Family Tree.
“Get Beethoven!” is Paul’s first book, though a second, a fun-filled account of his forty years in the Brodsky Quartet, is due for release in autumn 2021 to coincide with that group’s 50th anniversary. He lives in London with his wife, Jacqueline (cellist and founder member of the Brodsky Quartet) and their two daughters, Holly and Celia.