# Jacqueline du Pre



## Judith

Don't know if there is already a thread, please move if there is, but just watched a BBC programme about her. Very tragic. She had her career ahead of her and it was cruelly taken away!


----------



## Ras

I have always loved J. du Pre's recording of Haydn's cello concertos.
I have the box with her complete EMI recordings (which was dirt cheap when I bought it). A new "discovery" for me in that box was Delius' Cello Concerto. 
The Beethoven sonatas and trios in the EMI box are also very good. 
I haven't seen the film that Judith mentions.


----------



## jegreenwood

I've linked to this video before, but it seems appropriate to do so again.


----------



## LP collector

Judith said:


> Don't know if there is already a thread, please move if there is, but just watched a BBC programme about her. Very tragic. She had her career ahead of her and it was cruelly taken away!


I enjoyed the programme very much. It didn't tell us anything that we didn't already know about Jackie, only that she seemed to continually be smiling. Also shown on the same evening was a thought to be lost recording of a televised transmission from the early 1960's of her playing Dvorak's Cello Concerto. I was perplexed at the opening of the third movement when after a few bars the music suddenly stopped and du Pré marched off the stage holding her cello! All was revealed - a broken string required replacement.


----------



## Barbebleu

I'm a bit of a heretic when it comes to Du Pré. Hers was the first Elgar Cello Concerto I ever heard and while I loved the concerto I was not enamoured with her tone. Subsequently I discovered other cellists who sounded better to my ear but hey ho, that's my problem.


----------



## LP collector

Barbebleu said:


> I'm a bit of a heretic when it comes to Du Pré. Hers was the first Elgar Cello Concerto I ever heard and while I loved the concerto I was not enamoured with her tone. Subsequently I discovered other cellists who sounded better to my ear but hey ho, that's my problem.


Not for one moment do I wish to put words in your mouth but the du Pré recording of the Elgar is often accused of being over-romantic. Barbirolli interviewed during the BBC programme made what I thought a most interesting observation "She is young. Young people are like that, as they grow older they calm down" Sadly we were not able to hear a more mature rendition of this great work from Jackie. I am thankful though for one of the most iconic Elgar recordings.


----------



## staxomega

Barbebleu said:


> I'm a bit of a heretic when it comes to Du Pré. Hers was the first Elgar Cello Concerto I ever heard and while I loved the concerto I was not enamoured with her tone. Subsequently I discovered other cellists who sounded better to my ear but hey ho, that's my problem.


It's Barenboim's playing that I don't care for on this performance. A bit aggressive and not helped by the very close mic'ing.

The Slava/Serkin is a bit more to my taste. Though Serkin goes to the other end of the spectrum and is maybe a bit too reserved!


----------



## Barbebleu

staxomega said:


> It's Barenboim's playing that I don't care for on this performance. A bit aggressive and not helped by the very close mic'ing.
> 
> The Slava/Serkin is a bit more to my taste. Though Serkin goes to the other end of the spectrum and is maybe a bit too reserved!


I'm confused. Where does Barenboim come into this. Perhaps the fault is mine. I should have been clearer and stated that the version I was referring to was the Du Pré/Barbirolli one.


----------



## staxomega

Barbebleu said:


> I'm confused. Where does Barenboim come into this. Perhaps the fault is mine. I should habe been clearer and stated that the version I was referring to was the Du Pré/Barbirolli one.


My mistake I was thinking of Brahms Cello Sonata. Don't know how!


----------



## Heliogabo

Watching this film (or another?) about Du Pré I discovered Piatti's cello caprices. Beautiful pieces for cello lovers.


----------



## Harrowby Hall

I actually heard Jacqueline Du Pre play the Elgar concerto, on 1 September 1965 with Malcolm Sargent and the BBC SO. It was at a Prom to celebrate Sargent's 70th birthday. My abiding memory is of Jacqui throwing herself about as she played and her long hair flowing. The concert also included Elgar 2, Holst's _Hymn of Jesus_ and Walton's _Coronation Te Deum_ - Sargent was unrivalled as a conductor of big choral pieces. It was an evening that is burned into my memory.


----------



## endelbendel

The talk always sentimental about tragic illness and early death, not artistry, makes me distrust and not listen to her.


----------



## Larkenfield

There was tremendous raw emotion and immediacy to her playing. Her sound was both luminous and shimmering. Such superb artistry. There was no one like her. She was intense but with great subtleties. She was robbed of her talent at far too young an age.






In her teens...


----------



## regnaDkciN

endelbendel said:


> The talk always sentimental about tragic illness and early death, not artistry, makes me distrust and not listen to her.


I hope you're consistent, and refuse to listen to anything by Mozart or Schubert, then.


----------



## fluteman

Even in her own, increasingly distant time, Jacqueline du Pre was already a throwback to an earlier era when absolutely clean and perfect technique wasn't considered all-important. For me, she's still a refreshing antidote for listening to too much Yo-yo Ma.


----------

