Latest Release
- JUL 28, 2023
- 36 Songs
- Elgar: Cello Concerto & Sea Pictures · 1965
- Elgar: Cello Concerto, Op. 85 & Sea Pictures, Op. 37 · 1965
- Chopin & Franck: Cello Sonatas · 1972
- The Heart of the Cello · 1995
- Brahms: Cello Sonatas Nos.1 & 2 - Bruch: Kol Nidrei · 2002
- Beethoven Cello Sonatas · 1966
- Elgar: Cello Concerto & Sea Pictures · 1965
- Elgar: Cello Concerto, Op. 85 & Sea Pictures, Op. 37 · 1965
- The Heart of the Cello · 1995
- 55 Relaxing Classical Hits · 1997
Essential Albums
- This release is famous as one of the triumphs of Jacqueline du Pré’s all-too-short career. Her featured performance on the Elgar Cello Concerto is a master class in how to brood without losing momentum. There’s always a songlike quality to her tone, even when she brings out the grain in her instrument’s sound. John Barbirolli’s conducting keeps everything in balance. And the addition of Elgar’s Sea Pictures, with Janet Baker singing, makes this a top recommendation among all-Elgar sets.
Artist Playlists
- Her tender touch made her one of history's finest cellists.
More To Hear
- Celebrate Apple Music Classical with Elgar’s Cello Concerto.
About Jacqueline du Pré
In her brief career, the youthful cellist Jacqueline du Pré surprised the musical world by her identification with Edward Elgar’s elegiac and anguished Cello Concerto (1919). Her now classic 1965 recording followed three years of popular success performing that work, including regular appearances at the Royal Albert Hall Proms. Born in Oxford, UK, in 1945, she started playing cello aged four and studied with teacher William Pleeth who nurtured her love for the physicality of the instrument’s sound and its repertoire by such composers as Brahms and Dvořák. She made her concerto debut at London’s Royal Festival Hall in 1962, playing the Elgar, which she chose again later that year at her first Proms appearance. Her use of portamento (an expressive glide between two notes) was characteristic, as was her guileless joy in performing—particularly evident when playing Haydn and Schubert—that made light of her phenomenal technique which involved unusual fingering and hand positions. She also recorded—often alongside the pianist/conductor Daniel Barenboim whom she married in 1967—Beethoven’s cello sonatas (1970) and piano trios (1969–70) in addition to a Romantic and late-Romantic repertoire that included the concertos of Schumann (1968) and Dvořák (1970). Her performing career lasted barely 10 years before it was ended by multiple sclerosis. She died in 1987, leaving a legacy of recordings that continue to inspire both musicians and listeners.
- HOMETOWN
- Oxford, England, UK
- BORN
- 1945
- GENRE
- Classical