Music Stores in Barcelona and Madrid

FNAC sells cd's.

Thanks, both. Re Casals, I will be taking a day private tour from Barcelona in early October to visit his birthplace, grave, and the Museum. I'm a cellist so I couldn't go to Barcelona without paying homage to him.

@susan_lauscher please post what you find! i am also a cellist and would love to know where that little music shop in barcelona was that casals first rediscovered the suites. what a lovely idea for a tour.

Some suggestions for a classical music lover visiting Barcelona "in early October"....

• The aforementioned visit to Casa Beethoven
• Needless to say, a visit to the Pau Casals Foundation and Museum
• A guided visit to Palau de la Música Catalana, or even better, attend a concert in this magnificent music hall (*)
• If a Saturday, a guided visit to the Auditorium + a concert
• On Sun Oct 6th, a free concert at the lovely Monestir de Pedralbes, by the Barcelona Municipal Band
  
• A visit to a couple of the many luthiers in Barcelona, I recommend https://luthiervidal.com/en/ and http://casaparramon.com/en/ At the first one, maybe (maybe!) you could convince one of the artisans, or Xavier Vidal himself, to allow you into their workshop for a flash visit and see how they work on the instruments
• Some vinyl shops, from all genres, in the city here.
• Unfortunately Pau Casals Annual Day, with plenty of activities, is celebrated in June, so you better plan your next trip to Barcelona!

Enjoy!

(*) Highlights (to me!) in early October:

• https://www.palaumusica.cat/en/new-world-symphony-of-dvo%C5%99ak_702902
• https://www.palaumusica.cat/en/esa-pekka-salonen-philharmonia-orchestra_692911
• https://www.palaumusica.cat/en/let-the-peoples-sing_704359
• not my cup of tea, yet... https://www.liceubarcelona.cat/en/temporada-2019-2020/other-shows/paco-montalvo but this one is performed at El Liceu Opera House instead.

@Bill Sinclair
@Eric
Wonderful information, thank you for sharing!!

I'm back from my three week trip to Spain and wanted to report in. The day I spent with a private guide going to El Vendrell and San Salvador to visit the Casals sites was great! In El Vendrell, we visited Casals' childhood home which has a small museum, saw his statue in the square, and paid a visit to his grave. Did you know that the American pianist (and husband of Marta Casals after Casals died) Eugene Istomin is buried in the same plot? We then drove to San Salvador, right on the Mediterranean, to visit Casals villa/Casals Museum. Be sure to leave at least an hour or two to visit, and make a reservation to dine outdoors on the terrace. Who can object to seafood paella with a glass of wine while gazing at the Mediterranean?

In Barcelona, I paid a visit to the Casa Beethoven, which is right on La Rambla. The staff was very helpful as I was looking through all of the solo cello music. One of the employees would notice what piece of music I was looking at and would pull up a recording of it on YouTube. I ended up buying about 100 Euros of cello music, including a solo suite that Enrique Casals wrote for his brother (who knew that Casals even had a brother [who was a professional violinist]). It sounds like Bach if he were born in Catalonia.

I also did take a guided tour of the Palace of Catalan Music in Barcelona. The building is not to be missed!

Susan, wonderful report, thanks. Glad to hear you had a good time in my hometown.

Just to point out Casals brother's name was Enric -like me-, not Enrique.