Jacqueline du Pré (1945-1987) was an English cellist, one of the most beloved and compelling instrumentalists of the twentieth century. Her career was brief, but her impact was extraordinary.

She became especially associated with Elgar’s Cello Concerto, a work she made almost inseparable from her name. In the Pristine catalogue she appears in Elgar under Malcolm Sargent, caught near the beginning of her remarkable public ascent.

Du Pré’s playing was ardent, spontaneous and intensely communicative, with a tone that seemed to speak directly from the nerve-endings. She brought youth, grandeur and vulnerability into the same phrase.

Her legend can sometimes blur the musician, but the recordings restore the balance. Du Pré was not merely tragic; she was incandescently alive when the bow touched the string.