Dvorak op 104

At a young age, cellist Jacqueline du Pre achieved mainstream popularity. She is regarded as one of the most distinctive cellists of the last half of the 20th century. Her career was cut short by a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis which stopped her performances at the age of 27. This Japanese SACD reissue from 2018 combines Dvorak's Cello Concerto In B Minor from 1970 (as well with the additional piece of music "Silent Woods") and a gut-wrenching performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor from 1965 (as well with the additional pieces of "Sea Pictures").

This wonderful two-disc set charts the progress of Dvořák’s relationship with the concerto form over the course of his career, from the tentative but beautifully peaceful Piano Concerto of his early days to the masterwork that is the Cello Concerto, widely considered the greatest of all concertos for the instrument. This evolution was accompanied by a range of musical and personal influences: the concertos interact with Dvořák’s other key pieces, such as his famous Slavonic Dances, showing snippets of his main musical preoccupations as well as his changing geographic location; and are testament to his important relationships with some of the star soloists of his day – such as the violinist Joseph Joachim or the cellist Hanuš Wihan – for whom he wrote most of the concertos.

Her story is one of the most legendary of all twentieth century musicians' stories, and also, one of the most tragic. Cellist Jacqueline Du Pré, born on January 26, 1945, in Oxford, England, to Derek and Iris Du Pré. (Despite the family name, Derek Du Pré was not French, but rather of British Channel Island ancestry; he could trace his lineage back to the Norman Conquest). She blossomed young and achieved international fame in a few short years during the mid-1960s, during which same time she joined Daniel Barenboim in one of history's most celebrated musical marriages. But her career was shattered in the early 1970s – not even a decade into its maturity – by multiple sclerosis.

Her story is one of the most legendary of all twentieth century musicians' stories, and also, one of the most tragic. Cellist Jacqueline Du Pré, born on January 26, 1945, in Oxford, England, to Derek and Iris Du Pré. (Despite the family name, Derek Du Pré was not French, but rather of British Channel Island ancestry; he could trace his lineage back to the Norman Conquest). She blossomed young and achieved international fame in a few short years during the mid-1960s, during which same time she joined Daniel Barenboim in one of history's most celebrated musical marriages. But her career was shattered in the early 1970s – not even a decade into its maturity – by multiple sclerosis.

Mstislav Rostropovich One of the great cellists as well as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century, Mstislav Rostropovich's passionate and virtuosic performance style sometimes seemed to reflect the turbulent events in his life, including his exile from his native Soviet Union. In addition to his ability to project with notable fullness in all registers of his instrument, he had complete command of the styles of all the musical eras and national schools in the standard cello repertoire of the time. A strong supporter of new works, he premiered over 100 pieces as a performer, including Sergey Prokofiev's Cello Sonata in C, Op. 119 in 1950, which was composed for him. In 1959 and 1966, respectively, Dmitry Shostakovich's first and second cello concertos were written for and premiered by the esteemed cellist. In the meantime, he made his conducting debut in Gorky in 1962, and five years later, he made his Bolshoi premiere conducting Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. In 1970, Rostropovich's open letter in support of dissident writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn led to canceled concerts and, eventually, his exile from the Soviet Union. His citizenship was revoked while abroad in 1974.