Jacqueline Du Pre - Complete EMI Recordings

[Mark]

For those unaware (and who are fans of Du Pre's work), this 17-CD set to commemorate 20 years since her death is now available for pre-order: Jacqueline Du Pre - Complete EMI Recordings

My order is in.

[Michel]

Thanks for this, its a good price. She was good too. Not sure I need all those CD's, though.

[DavidW]

She can be pretty good, but she's not really a great artist, would anyone really want a complete set of her recordings?

[Mark]

She can be pretty good, but she's not really a great artist, would anyone really want a complete set of her recordings?

WHAT??!! Not really a great artist? She was hardly mediocre ... or do you disagree? Many complain that she was too idiosyncratic in her playing. I prefer to see it that she infused herself into whatever she played. That's what makes, to cite an obvious example, her account of Elgar's Cello Concerto so unique, so moving. She was also a distinctive musician: many times I've heard her playing on the radio, and have known instantly it was her and no one else even before the presenter named her. Compare and contrast with a number of today's performers - they play with an homogenised sound that doesn't mark them out, however good or great their performances. Give me a musician with a signature any day.

[BorisG]

Happy Commemoration. Her Elgar and Don Quixote will do me.

[PerfectWagnerite]

WHAT??!! Not really a great artist? She was hardly mediocre ... or do you disagree? Many complain that she was too idiosyncratic in her playing. I prefer to see it that she infused herself into whatever she played. That's what makes, to cite an obvious example, her account of Elgar's Cello Concerto so unique, so moving. She was also a distinctive musician: many times I've heard her playing on the radio, and have known instantly it was her and no one else even before the presenter named her. Compare and contrast with a number of today's performers - they play with an homogenised sound that doesn't mark them out, however good or great their performances. Give me a musician with a signature any day.

She was at times a great artist. She can be stunning at times but like in the Dvorak on EMI she sounds way to rough and choppy. To me she is way too inconsistent to be considered great.
I wouldn't want 17 CDs or her stuff either. Even if I do I wouldn't pre-order it. You wait till it comes out and you are bound to get it for a lot cheaper.

[Mark]

She can be stunning at times but like in the Dvorak on EMI she sounds way to rough and choppy.

Hear her in the same work with Celibidache on DG (originally on Teldec, I believe) - markedly different approach, same distinctive sound. I might not add her to any list of the 20th century's greatest artists, but she'd certainly make any list for the most distinctive.

[MishaK]

Hear her in the same work with Celibidache on DG (originally on Teldec, I believe) - markedly different approach, same distinctive sound. I might not add her to any list of the 20th century's greatest artists, but she'd certainly make any list for the most distinctive.

I was about to recommend the same. That is my favorite Dvorak Cello Concerto recording. Just stunning.

Query how much of her inconsistency is due to her advancing illness? Artistically and musically there isn't an uninteresting or dishonest moment in her playing. 

[Mark]

Query how much of her inconsistency is due to her advancing illness? Artistically and musically there isn't an uninteresting or dishonest moment in her playing. 

A compelling theory indeed. And yes, there's not a note I've heard her play that hasn't made me ... er ... take note. She always was and remains so (on record, at least) an interesting performer with something to say. If only there were more like her these days.