Elgar Cello Concerto Op. 85

[Zhiliang]

Hi,

I am looking to get a recording of this piece. Hope to get some recommendations on the most famous recording of this piece plus another very good version of this piece in modern digital sound. Thanks.

[Renfield]

Most famous, in my opinion still the best and eminently recommendable:




An excellent recent recording ("modern digital"), again in my view:




The former is simply legendary, as romantic as it is tense. The latter I find has a gall and "bite" to it that I most welcome, and constitutes a good alternative choice for me.

Though of course there are a lot of other recordings of the Elgar Cello Concerto, which will undoubtedly come flooding in, before long.

[Zhiliang]

Thanks for the recommendations.

How is the sound quality of the Jacqueline Du Pre recording?

Actually i am very new to the piece and the only reason i am getting it is that i caught some of it in the movie August Rush. Looking for a hauntingly beautiful version.

[lukeottevanger]

The Du Pre is precisely that. Of course there are many other fine versions which will give you differing insights into this piece, but really the Du Pre is one of 'those' very few extra-special recordings that made themselves inextricable from the piece itself and simply must be heard by anyone with an interest in the music. There are those who think that it is too extreme, perhaps lacking in restraint or dignity (I'm not exactly one of those, but I can see their point) but it remains an exquisite reading, and for someone wanting 'hauntingly beautiful' it must be at the top of the pile, IMO. As for sonics - I'm sure you can find a more spectacular modern recording, but that is hardly the point in this sort of music. I've always thought that this reading was very lovingly captured, though I'm not a person whose opinion means much when it comes to sonics, I must admit. I'm more interested in the music....

[knight66]

As an adjunct to the Cello Concerto, the EMI is paired with Janet Baker's version of The Sea Pictures. The poetry has been criticised, but allied to the music and when sung as only Baker ever has, then the songs become a real pleasure. Barbirolli was a superb partner to a number of artists. His contribution should not be overlooked.

Mike

[lukeottevanger]

...and of course Barbirolli-as-cellist was

1) in the orchestra for the premiere of this work and

2) the soloist in the second performance.

[not edward]

I burnt out on the du Pre quite a while back and should revisit it some time--currently I enjoy Pieter Wispelwey's understated approach greatly.

[(poco) Sforzando]

I burnt out on the du Pre quite a while back and should revisit it some time--currently I enjoy Pieter Wispelwey's understated approach greatly.

I as well, and PW is coupled with the superb cello concerto of Lutoslawski, where with DuPre you have to suffer through those Sea Pics.

[Guido]

I've never seen you praise such a modern work that highly sfz.(!) Anyway, of course Dupre is the mandaory recommendation. My two other favourite versions are Yo-Yo Ma with Previn and also a very recent and brilliant recording that made me love the piece again after hearing it too many times is Daniel Muller Schott's, also with Previn. Oddly both are coupled with the Walton cello concerto both very fine readings (only just behind my favourite versions - Tim Hugh on Naxos). I agree though, The Wispelwey is a very fine recording, as far as I remember (I used to own the disc, lent it to someone, who never returned it).

[(poco) Sforzando]

I've never seen you praise such a modern work that highly sfz.(!)

Then apparently you haven't read my comments on the Elliott Carter thread.

- sfz

[Keemun]

Most famous, in my opinion still the best and eminently recommendable:

I agree.  If you only get one recording, make it this one.

[Guido]

Then apparently you haven't read my comments on the Elliott Carter thread.

- sfz

No I haven't, or perhaps I did but it didn't register as you... will do.

[BorisG]

Another yes for du Pre.

Miss Clein has a sultry look, which is good. Can she play?

[Zhiliang]

Another yes for du Pre.

Miss Clein has a sultry look, which is good. Can she play?

Sultry is a bonus 

It seems like its an overwhelming Du Pre win.

Anyone know the year of the Du Pre recording? Are there any must-buy from her discography?

[Zhiliang]

Is this worth the price at 19.57 pounds?

[Renfield]

Is this worth the price at 19.57 pounds?

For the amount of discs in it, yes; and there are quite a few good performances in there, and all are at the very least "individual".


BorisG:

Clein, sultry look and all, has an also-individual, somewhat biting way to the Elgar, as I said above.

So yes, she can play. Probably not like Jacqueline du Pré, but no one can play like her. That's really the thing I like about Clein: she's not trying to play like du Pré, but manages to get quite a lot of incisive tension and brooding melancholy from the piece.

"Hauntingly beautiful" her performance is not. But it is more than competent, even in comparison to the du Pré account.

[orbital]

The Fournier/BPO found on this CD (and possibly in other reincarnations):

I could never like the Du Pre recording that much. Way too sentimental for my taste. Fournier is romantic too, but more tasteful IMO

[Guido]

I must just put in a dissenting voice for the Clein recording - her playing is really not up to the standard of the other great artists that we are discussing, at least in this recording. I'm sure that some people might like it, but find the vibrato almost ridiculously wide at times and the phrasing often lumpy. I don't know where this vibrato has come from as she does not do it live, and I don't remember her doing it on her Brahms sonatas album, though its been a while since I listened to it. Certainly not a first choice (or even a fourth choice in my estimation).

She is fantastic live - I have seen her four times - twice playing the Shostakovich Concerto no.1 (once great, the other average), and twice playing Solo Bach - amongst the best young Bach players that I know of on any instrument.

[Renfield]

I must just put in a dissenting voice for the Clein recording - her playing is really not up to the standard of the other great artists that we are discussing, at least in this recording. I'm sure that some people might like it, but find the vibrato almost ridiculously wide at times and the phrasing often lumpy. I don't know where this vibrato has come from as she does not do it live, and I don't remember her doing it on her Brahms sonatas album, though its been a while since I listened to it. Certainly not a first choice (or even a fourth choice in my estimation).

Absolutely not a first choice, when there's the du Pré to reckon with.

But I did say "alternative choice". And a competent individual performance; which, as you might notice, is my stated reason for liking it. Of course, it does boil down to personal choice, using "individual" or "quirky" to describe it.

[BorisG]

Sultry is a bonus 

It seems like its an overwhelming Du Pre win.

Anyone know the year of the Du Pre recording? Are there any must-buy from her discography?

Don Quixote. Unfortunately, the coupled Lalo is under-recorded from a live concert.