In Paris, about 20 years ago, three good friends recorded Schubert and Beethoven trios. Their performances are still definitive in chamber music. Pianist Alfred Cortot and Violinist Jacques Thibaud were France's two most distinguished instrumentalists. Spaniard Pablo Casals was the world's most famed cellist.
Before the war they split. Cortot, a collaborationist, became Vichy's secretary for music. Casals, a fiery Spanish Loyalist, hid out in France during the war, performed at Loyalist benefits. Now 70, he has announced that he will never play publicly again until Spain is liberated from Franco. Jacques Thibaud, less politically minded than either, gave concerts in Vichyfrance,...