The tragedy of du Pré’s brief career is still fresh in the public memory and can be summarised here. She was born in Oxford on 26 January 1945 into a middle-class family in which music was important: her mother was a fine pianist and a gifted teacher. The French-sounding name came from her father’s Channel Islands ancestry. Just before her fifth birthday, when she was already showing musical promise, she heard the sound of a cello on the radio and the course of her life was set.
The tragedy of du Pré’s brief career is still fresh in the public memory and can be summarised here. She was born in Oxford on 26 January 1945 into a middle-class family in which music was important: her mother was a fine pianist and a gifted teacher. The French-sounding name came from her father’s Channel Islands ancestry. Just before her fifth birthday, when she was already showing musical promise, she heard the sound of a cello on the radio and the course of her life was set.
This collection, composed of the great works for the cello, is a must have in any serious classical music fan's library. It is an even better collection for the "newbie" to the genre. Jacqueline du Pre was undoubtedly one of the greatest artist of the century and her passion is well documented in this collection.
This is a re-issue, in an improved version, of Christopher Nupens best-selling DVD previously released through Opus Arte it now appears on the Christopher Nupen Films label for the first time. As usual with Christopher Nupen DVDs, this one contains two films: the famous portrait film of Jacqueline du Prй which includes the complete Elgar cello Concerto in a performance which has become legendary and a performance film, The Ghost (Beethovens Trio Op. 70 No. 1) with Daniel Barenboim and Pinchas Zukerman; described by the French opera and film director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle as the most successful translation of musical performance onto the screen that he had ever seen. And, also as usual with Christopher Nupen films, these are lit, shot and edited in the style of cinema film, not television. The results are visually impressive and totally unlike what usually appears on television screens an important, defining characteristic of this DVD.