Here are two previously unreleased and absolutely fascinating pieces recorded in 1962 that unite the master and the student on the same album. Jacqueline du Pré was just at the start of her short and brilliant career when she played Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A minor live. She wasn’t even eighteen years old when she went expressly to Paris to work on this massive task of Paul Tortelier’s repertoire, with the aim of performing in London’s Royal Festival Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, under the lead of French conductor Jean Martinon. Even though this first version shows rather understandable glimpses of stage fright, as the young cellist at times disrupts her bow and intonation, she displays tremendous passion and commitment that will come to define her blazing style. Four years later, she would work on the same concerto at the Moscow Conservatory with Rostropovich, who declared having never heard such perfection grace in playing Robert Schumann’s masterpiece.
Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor was recorded live in Edinburgh with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini. It was the start of a long friendship between Rostropovich and Benjamin Britten, who expressly wrote to Soviet authorities to allow the Russian cellist to exit the country. This led to numerous concerts all across Great Britain, as exemplified by this concert in Scotland. This was the first encounter between the cello giant and maestro Giulini, who went on to record this concerto together several years later, in 1977. Upon first listen, this archive suggests this encounter may very well have been love at first sight! © François Hudry/Qobuz