Johann Sebastian Bach Benjamin Britten Manuel de Falla - Jacqueline du Pr Her Early BBC Recordings Volume 1 Bach Falla Britten Luch Kovacevich (20 tracks) +Album Reviews

Man can this girl wail!

Gloria | San Francisco Bay Area, CA | 09/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The only other recording of Bach's cello suites I had ever heard before this were done by Yo Yo Ma (did I spell that right?). With his style as my background, I at first did not like Jacqueline's style. I thought it was much too earthy, even technically inaccurate, a trial of my patience. Still I listened, I had no choice because I had lost my Yo Yo CD. After a while I began to appreciate, even like, Jacqueline's style. Now I totally prefer Jacqueline Du Pre to Yo Yo Ma. He is too accurate, I almost think a machine could do the same job, only more efficiently and for less pay! Why bother having a cellist at all when a machine could do the same thing, only better! Jacqueline's playing is very human, earthy, organic even. She wails on her cello at some parts, some notes sound raw, some are so raw that it sounds like her bow could use more rosin!, she lullabies me to sleep at other parts, but there is always an underlying emotional edginess, tension. My favorite is track 1, the Prelude from Bach's cello suite no.1. It amazes me to think that she would play some parts the way she did, yet it all works beautifully! Her dynamics are particularly good. On some songs, like track 14 which is "Marcia" from Britten's Cello Sonata in C Op.65, she plays with such testosterone. I wonder if she's angry at her instrument; it sounds like she's actually trying to break some strings! And the piano playing is wild, almost scary! I love that song. Another example of edginess which I think is distinctive of Ms. Du Pre is on track 19, "Cancion" from Falla's Suite Populaire Espagnole. It sounds like it's supposed to be a nice, happy, springtime song. But Jacqueline about halfway through lays into her cello again and unleashes the full power of her emotion. She's definitely not boring."

You can't help but be moved

Gloria | 05/15/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"People either love Jacqueline Du Pre's playing or absolutely hate it. I personally love it. She plays with such powerful emotion and conviction that you can't help but be moved in some way. She never holds back. You almost feel like you're performing the pieces with her. It is soulful cello playing. She knows how to make the cello sound its best. It's a wonderful recording. I highly recommend it."

Portrait of the cellist as a young woman

Luis Miguel Muelle | Roswell, GA United States | 11/18/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD has been coupled with Vol. 2 in a set with ASIN # B00000JQY1, also available here at Amazon.com, and for the same price as this one volume. These BBC recordings are a wonderful glimpse into the raw talent that was Jacqueline du Pre *as a teenager*! That she dared to play the Bach shows us her "chutzpah" and her daring -- which are components of her playing the rest of her life. She risked everything in every note she played. I agree with Gloria below about Yo Yo Ma's playing, being so clean and perfect that it lacks soul. Jackie was all soul and heart, and she wore them on her sleeve and in her bow."

Luminous, Sparkling Flecks from a Gem

jack schaaf | 09/21/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With the appearance of the excellent "les intouvables" collection of du Pre's EMI recordings, a codification which includes a sampling of most everything, why on earth would one opt to glance at the individual selections? The reasons are twofold: First, with the collection one may hear the works together, never fully appreciating their accomplishments individually and that in order to experience the mastery and history of the recordings one might choose to hear them separately. Second, the works as separately released also carry in addition to a complete chronolgic and historic arrangement (see e.g., the last Haydn concerto), the individual recordings coprise additional works meant to be included within their respective final format. Experiencing here individual recordings is something like carefully exmaning the chinks and flecks of crystal dust taken from a larger shard of quartz: they refract as much in their own brilliance disassembled and apart from the main as they do when seen together. Du Pre's early BBC recordings, while perhaps less exemplary of her larger talent (as with her Elgar), are instructive. Bach and the Suites for Unaccompanied Violincello, you ask? By someone not yet in her twenties? What of the mastery and excellence of Casals, Rostropovich, Mainardi? Why waste time on a demigod? The early recordings allow one to see exactly how du Pre interpreted the works at such an age before more fully maturing. Here -and one only catches glimpses and flashes of this brilliance- the young but very competent cellist displays artistry par with (or tempered by) her virtuosity where unaccompaniment (sans Barenboim) can reach levels of their own excellence. Part dramatic, part contemplative, the pace varies and offers some surprises. Luminous, near-clairvoyant sense of rhythym and eloquence."

Passion Emotion and Raw Talent

D. Markatos | New Canaan, CT USA | 06/30/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A CD well worth owning if you are a fan of the cello. Miss Dupre played with such emotion and character that it is as if she is having a dialog with you the listener. A wonderful compendium of early recordings that demonstrate her talent from all aspects. These are what introduced her to the world. They are well worth listening to and haveing."

Search - Johann Sebastian Bach, Benjamin Britten, Manuel de Falla :: Jacqueline du Pré - Her Early BBC Recordings Volume 1 ~ Bach, Falla, Britten / Luch, Kovacevich

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