Customer Reviews

Dvorak: Cello Concerto; Haydn: Cello Concerto in C; Jacqueline du Pre

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful example of cello playing...actually, this is the way the cello should be played! Du Pre is just brilliant here, the sound is vibrant and alive, at times very bold and passionate, and then quiet and tender. I think that this is probably better than the Yo-YO Ma version, she doesn't sound so rushed, she really takes the time to feel each note and chord and give it life. This has to be the best recording of the Dvorak anywhere.

du pre did a great job on this recording. as soon as her bow first touches the strings...no....as soon as you hear her breathe BEFORE her bow touches the strings-this recording comes alive. for listeners who are aquainted with the playing style of jacquline du pre-you can almost see her moving while she plays if you close your eyes. i love this cd!

This music goes beyond notes on a page. The Adagio of the Haydn was the reason I bought this CD, and it almost makes me cry every time I hear it. It's not performed, it's lived. It sounds like the cello's singing rather than being played. You'll forget you're listening to a recording.

Five stars for Jacqueline Du Pre and one star for the recording engineers. The performance by Du Pre is nothing short of beautiful but the recording (and or remastering) from the engineers is pathetic.
I am an audiophile and own only high-quality audio components so I am able to hear every bit of detail and nuisance in a recording. During the loud passages of this recording one can hear quite a bit of distortion coming from the left channel. The distortion is so annoying that I will be searching for a different recording of the Dvorak Cello Concerto. Suggestions anyone ?????

Above all else what makes this CD so valued for me is the fantastic sound quality of the Cello. The sound she makes with her bow is so rich and multi-layered and the CD captures it well. You can really crank up the volume on this one -- it sounds really good at 11.

For me the Allegro from the Dvorak is the highlight.

Du Pre's cello playing is magnificent here, and it is indeed a great pity that the music world has lost a superb artist at such an early point of her career!

To my ears the work that fared best, and is more musically satisfying, is the Haydn concerto. The nearly flawless cello playing and the English Chamber Orchestra's uncanny virtuosity under the direction of Barenboim add up to much more than the sum of the parts -- a remarkable musical event, well recorded for posterity!!!

Du Pre's masterly command of the cello and beauty of sound, however is recorded with excessive presence in the Dvorak concerto. The balance between the lovely cello sound and the Chicago Symphony is artificially slanted much too much towards the cello microphone, hence the resultant effect is one of a huge cello, albeit beautifully played, accompanied by a tiny sounding orchestra, way far in the distant background. This concerto is in reality a symphony for cello and orchestra containing a rich tapestry of interweaving inner voices as well as important musical material that needs to be heard with equally balanced prominence. The moments where the melodic material played by various instruments in the orchestra should be heard, are very poorly balanced, rendering them nearly completely obliterated by the cello's accompanying pyrotechnics. I can in no way, nor do I wish to, fault Du Pre's playing here - it is simply angelic! For that reason as well as the superb Haydn, I still recommend that every aspiring cellist or cello aficionado purchase this CD.

To me, the most musically satisfying CD of the Dvorak that I have heard so far is the 1969 Rostropovich/Karajan/Berlin Philharmonic Deutsche Grammophon recording.

I was interested in hearing more of Jacqueline du Pre, and I love the Dvorak cello concerto, so this CD was perfect. I also enjoyed the lovely Hayden concerto in C. Du Pre's performance is/was flawless.

What more can anyone say about this magnificent recording? I think her husband conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has much to do with making this recording so sensitive and special. My eyes water everytime I listen to Jacqueline's rendition of Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B minor and I curse the fact she was taken from us so young! NO ONE plays this piece with the feeling and expression that she does.The audio is perfect!