The Unparalleled Gifts of Western Civilization: Jacqueline du Pré Dvořák Cello Concerto

Something to be thankful for …. the unparalleled gifts of Western Civilization. I thought readers might enjoy hearing what is on my turntable whilst I work.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Jacqueline du Pré – Dvořák Cello Concerto – London Symphony Orchestra cond. Daniel Barenboim

Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191 by Antonín Dvořák

A recently re-discovered recording of a concert held in tribute to the people of Czechoslovakia days after the Soviet Union invaded. Filmed live at the Royal Albert Hall in September 1968.

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Elgar!

Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Elgar composed it in the aftermath of the First World War, when his music had already gone out of fashion with the concert-going public. In contrast with Elgar’s earlier Violin Concerto, which is lyrical and passionate, the Cello Concerto is for the most part contemplative and elegiac.

The first performance was a debacle because Elgar and the performers had been deprived of adequate rehearsal time. The work did not achieve wide popularity until the 1960s, when a recording by Jacqueline du Pré caught the public imagination and became a classical best-seller.