“She clearly was born to play the cello,” wrote the New York Times of Jacqueline Du Pré in 1967. Just five years later, when she was 27, multiple sclerosis curtailed her performing career and she died in 1987. She would have turned 80 January 26th, 2025.

For her first recording of a concerto, released in 1965, Du Pré chose the rhapsodic work by Delius. Gramophone praised her “warm and eloquent” interpretation and “the ravishingly beautiful orchestral sound which the RPO and Sir Malcolm Sargent provide to support her golden thread of Delian melody”. For this new LP the Delius Concerto is paired with a live recording of Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No 1, released on vinyl for the first time. Made in 1971 with Daniel Barenboim conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, it appeared on CD more than 25 years later. Like all Du Pré’s recordings, it bears out the words of her teacher, William Pleeth: “She approached each new experience with spontaneous pleasure and enthusiasm.”

Side A
Saint-Saens: Cello Concerto No. 1 In a Minor, Op. 33:
1. Allegro Non Troppo
2. Allegretto Con Moto
3. Allegro Non Troppo

Side B
Delius: Cello Concerto
4. Lento
5. Con Moto Tranquillo
6. Lento
7. Con Moto Tranquillo
8. Allegramente