Jacqueline du Pre, New Po, Daniel Barenboim

The great cellist Jacqueline Du Pré would have been 80 years old on January 26, 2025, if illness had not taken her too early at the age of 42.

"Towards the end of 1971 the harsher realities of illness dashed all Jacqueline du Pre's hopes of a studio recording of Beethoven's complete works for cello and piano with her husband,

Homage to the cello legend: A new compilation of Jacqueline du Pré's favourite pieces.

The Signature Collection is a brand new series from EMI Classics featuring the finest catalog recordings released for the first time ever in high resolution format. The expert engineers at Abbey Road Studios who remastered the original EMI recordings for Hybrid Super Audio CD series have breathed new life into these iconic catalog recordings. Each title in the Signature Collection is beautifully presented in a full-color illustrated hardback book. The liner notes explore mot only the rich music but also the story behind original LP covers. Also included are never before seen photographs of the original master tapes.

Excelling in chamber music as well as concertos, Jacqueline du Pré recorded many beautiful albums with her husband Daniel Barenboim at the piano, notably the complete sonatas and variations of Beethoven, here recorded live by the BBC in Edinburgh.

Here is a batch of absolute masterpieces of the romantic concertante cello repertoire, played with her endless energy and sensitivity. This album gathers recordings that remained long unavailable even after du Pré’s death.

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.

Could this be the definitive version of the admirable cycle of Beethoven’s piano trios? Surrounding Jacqueline du Pré then at the peak of her artistic talent are her closest musical partners Daniel Barenboim and Pinchas Zukerman.