Cellist Pablo Casals on expressive intonation

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Casals has long been accepted as the greatest of all string players. His playing was marked by a unique fusion of musicality and technique. But, while many of his technical innovations have now passed into standard cello practice, the same cannot be said for his ideas on intonation.

For him tone and intonation were indivisible. He believed that 50 per cent of a player's total expressive power lay in intonation. When asked what was the secret of his playing, he would say: 'It is my intonation: I know where each note is to go'; and though he believed in knowing where each note should go on the fingerboard, he believed paradoxically that for each note there are many possible placings, to be determined by the context.

Many musicians no doubt play by instinct in ways that accord with those views, but an understanding of the principles may still be a help. What is said applies equally to string players, singers and the players of some wind instruments.