| Memories |
|---|
| "Rohan was one of the very very few musician I’ve met in whom the musician and person were completely integrated. One felt that music-making simply flowed naturally without any artifice, from the core of his being. He was, really, that rare thing, a human masterpiece. Great as a man, great as a musician. " | P.H. |
| "Those few days working with him were revelatory for me, getting to spend time with someone who provided a role model not only for what a life in music could look like, but also for how to be a person in the world — generous, sharing, graceful, focused, humble, hard-working, creative, curious, and kind." | A.M. |
| "At our wedding in 1981 Rohan very kindly agreed to play the great cello movement from Messiaen’s Quartet for the end of time. We returned from signing the register to find the congregation silent and still, moved to tears by Rohan’s playing; touched by the sublime." | P.H. |
| "I heard him perform the Dvorak cello concerto, in Salisbury Town Hall. I was only 15. He made a strong impression on me, not only with the beauty of his playing, his sound in particular, but because there was something serene about his demeanour" | G.H. |
| "From Vivaldi to Dvořák, Dreamtiger to Xenakis, it was all a gift. His soul was as gentle as the rolling hills of Exmoor. The sweetest of men." | B.D. |
| "I want to remember and commemorate someone absolutely unique. Over the half century when I knew him Rohan opened up for me distant worlds that were closed to most Europeans of my generation" | D.Y. |
| "I well remember a wonderful concert at the Wigmore Hall which, with a twinkle in his eye, he rounded off with a virtuoso rendition of The Flight of the Bumblebee as an encore." | C.M. |
| "He mastered music because he was always servant to music." | A.J. |
| "Rohan was more than a great cellist and musician: he was a great human being. We all thought he would live for ever." | D.Y. |
| "I first heard Rohan play in, I think, 1967. I was playing in the St Matthew Passion in the Town Hall in Oxford, when suddenly the most amazing cello sound bloomed and filled the Hall. It was Rohan playing the Obligato, the Gamba solo." | G.D. |
| "I remember going to Sri Lanka about twenty five years ago as a visiting examiner and staying at the Galle Face Hotel. Around the magnificent front door were the names of famous guests including Rohan!" | Q.A. |
| "...Rohan playing the cello at our wedding. Such a treat! I love the thought that the little dent he had to make in the stone floor of Penhurst Church is still there. " | M.H. |
| "Rohan a rencontré et joué avec de nombreuses personalités de la musique lorsqu'il était jeune - pour n'en citer que quelques-unes, il a joué en duo avec Glen Gould, travaillé avec Zoltan Kodaly sur sa Sonate pour violoncelle seul, joué avec Chostakovitch ... Rohan était l'un des meilleurs violoncellistes au monde, tres émouvant par son himilité et son humanité. Il a touché beaucoup de monde de façon profonde et laisera une marque indélébile dans le monde musical. Il nous manquera." | G.K. |
| "I have wonderful memories of accompanying him in the Elgar concerto back in 1987; a wonderful human being, amazing musician and superb cellist" | G.V. |
| "A profoundly beautiful musician whom I met at the late Stephano Scodanibbio's festival. Music seemed to flow from every cell in his body. His sumptuous recording of the Bach 6th Cello Suite and Kodaly Sonata at the Lou Harrison house, Joshua Tree, made possible by Movses Pogossian, was pure joy to host." | E.S. |
| "Rohan was a musical and personal model to me thoughtout my developing years as a musican - a brilliant cellist, superb musician and one of the most modest and gentle people you could ever meet." | G.R. |
| "As a young student. he was asked to play Poulenc's Cello Sonata for the composer on the occasion of Poulenc's award of an honorary Oxford DMus." | R.K. |
| "At a workshop with the Arditti in 2002, Rohan remarked how playable my quartet was - the last time anyone described my music like that!" | A.S. |
| "I had the privilege of working with him in the early 1990s when the the Arditti played an early version of my first string quartet in Darmstadt." | J.E. |
| "I invited him to Leeds to do a research seminar where he regaled us with fascinating tales of working with Britten, Shostakovich, Xenakis, Lachenmann et al." | M.S. |
| "Next to being an acclaimed cello prodigy, Rohan was a Kandyan drummer. Birminghm Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) were immensely honoured to commission and present the result of both aspects of his creative life in one unique piece of music - his 2022 Music for Kanyan Drum, Strings and Percussion, premiered at the Commonwealth games in the CBSO Centre with his son Suren on drums." | BCMG |
| "I'll never forget that incredible positive energy when we were on stage together." | G.E.S |
| "I first heard him play Brahms and Kodaly 46 years ago in a school near my home - wonderful for a 13-year-old to experience." | A.L. |
| "When he entered a room, there was magic." | C.O.D. |
| "Perhaps the greatest cellist to have walked our planet. I think so." | B.D. |
| "R.I.P. The legendary cellist Rohan de Saram He was always generous, gentle and kind to me, who was much younger than him in age, career and talent. During rehearsals, concerts and recordings, he taught me many important and wonderful things about music through the beautiful sounds he played. He always made me smile with his humorous conversation during walks and meals. Sometimes he made me laugh so hard I couldn't stop laughing. It was one of my dreams to record a CD with him, and I will never forget how happy I was when my dream came true. I want to say him thank you for everything for the days with him and with his music." | JY |
| "He along with Rostropovich influenced me into listening more to contemporary music. " | KH |
| "I was lucky enough to be an undergraduate at Oxford in the 1970s, when Rohan de Saram and Michael Hill gave a series of recitals in the Holywell Music Room. I used to sit just a few feet away. It was from their hands that I heard many well-known works for the first time. This amateur cellist used to go back to his room and think ‘He did that?!’ after hearing e.g. the Kodaly solo sonata, the last two variations of Rococo (as an encore), the Debussy sonata (with what years later I learned was his teacher Cassado’s fingering of the repeated semiquaver motif in the first movement), the Rachmaninov sonata, and many others. Totally inspirational. Years later, I heard the Arditti quartet many time at the Wigmore Hall. The last time I heard Rohan de Saram, he played the wonderful solo cello work by Dallapiccola. Memories to treasure while absorbing the sad news of his death." | JH |
| "I remember him showing me a Fernyhough score.. alarm! I was playing a concerto, Schumann I think, when he quoted the bible, ( sort of) ‘ let not your right hand know what your left hand doeth’ He was talking about bow pressure and left hand articulation. I have used it in my own teaching ever since." | OA |
| "He was the greatest ever string player to devote himself to contemporary music precisely because he didn't only play this repertoire. Rather, unlike 100% of other full time new music players, he had begun with and continued to perform the standard repertoire at the highest professional level. As a result, he married the technical command, sound, intonation, and nuance of a traditional player with the approach of someone who was truly conversant in the entire broader musical repertoire. Rohan was one of the most profound influences upon me and I will forever cherish my memories of this legendary figure." | JC |
| "One of the greatest tours-de-force I heard from him was what must have been the first performance of Luciano Berio’s late cello Sequenza (or at least that version of the piece). This was Berio’s homage to de Saram, and it combines both the composer’s innate lyricism and textural adventure, and also the Ceylonese rhythms of de Saram’s heritage, which the cellist must tap out on the surface of the instrument. It was revelatory. Afterwards a group of cellists and other music lovers gathered around to pay their respects (this was at the Bing Theater at LACMA). He mentioned that Berio had failed to send him the last couple of pages to the piece until that very morning, and that he took the pages from the fax machine and learned them on the spot. " | RL |
| "Music seemed to flow from every cell of Rohan's body. I so wanted for Rohan to experience his divine musicality filling the vaulted hall that Lou Harrison designed in Joshua Tree. I'm grateful to Movses Pogossian who finally made that happen in 2011 with a joint concert. It was truly a slice of heaven that resulted in Rohan agreeing to return to record in 2012. It was pure joy hosting Rohan with Robbi Robb as sound engineer. The result is his sumptuous recording of the Bach 6th Cello Suite and Kodaly Sonata for solo cello." | ES |
| "Although he came to be better known for playing contemporary music, his performances of the great baroque, classical, and romantic works gave one the sensation similar to seeing an old master painting after it had been cleaned and restored!" | AB |
| "My memories of him are indelible. Back in the sixties he was a towering giant of influence. Back then nobody dared play the Kodaly solo sonata. His performance was exceptional, miraculous, even. He made it look so easy. He stayed in control all the way through to the end long after others had dropped out due to exhaustion! He made music out of it. Then there was his playing of cutting edge contemporary compositions, such as Nomos Alpha and Kottos. It was so very inspiring to see someone capable of realising a composers intentions. There seemed to be no limit on what was possible. This paved the way for so many young cellist to try such things for themselves. And then there was all the rest of his playing....I still cherish the memory of a (BBC?) performance of the Frank Bridge sonata with his brother Druvi. Beautiful. What a wonderful contribution he made to the world of cello and music." | SB |
| "His modesty, playfulness, and humility in person was something that struck everyone I think, perhaps especially because of the way it contrasted with the stillness, ‘certainty’ and expressive power of his performances. " | NH |
| "My abiding image of him though will probably be of the twinkle in his eye, the smile playing on his lips, and the enthusiasm in his voice as he recounted some reminiscence or anecdote over dinner with family and friends at your place. " | HE |
| "a cellist of prodigious gifts, an extraordinarily modest man, wholly dedicated to the cause of music. His sense of humour was a delight and I will always remember that chuckle" | PT |
| "He cast off the years with a colossal performance of the Kodály Solo Sonata which will stay with me as long as I live. The interpretation went far beyond virtuosity into that exalted sphere where only the most timeless music-making resonates. His bowing in the second movement was of an indescribable eloquence." | TP |
| "I remember him showing me a score of Haydn quartets where the themes had been inscribed in Mendelssohn’s hand inside the cover." | BHF |
| "I just turned up to a place in Kentish Town to play duets as far as I was concerned. His playing was immediately exceptional and as a young soloist with a huge ego I was immediately humbled in the nicest and most inspirational way. He then told me the last person he had played the Kodaly Duo with was David Oistrakh and the Handel Halvorsen had been with Jascha Heifetz in Piatigorsky’s flat in New York. My mind was blown." | JH |
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