Elgar: Cello Concerto / Sea Pictures

The passionate reading from Jacqueline DuPr© and Sir John Barbirolli is one of the classics of the catalog. [Barbirolli had played in the cello section of the Queen's Hall Orchestra when the first recording of the work was made, with the composer on the podium, in 1919.] Both the pain and the tenderness of this valedictory work are captured in full by the performance--and, fittingly, there is always gentleness in the pain, always an edge to the tenderness. The sound, while somewhat grainy, has remarkable presence and weight; and the balances are ideal. --Ted Libbey