Beethoven: Cello Sonatas & Variations / du Pre, Barenboim

Even today, there are music lovers out there who get wet-eyed over the thought of cellist Jacqueline du Pre. Who can blame them? Not only was she a stupendous virtuoso, she had a warm-hearted tone and a strong-muscled style. Few listeners can deny that du Pre's recordings of the Elgar Concerto and the Dvorak Concerto are among the most affecting ever made. There are some listeners, however, who have taken issue with her chamber music playing. While most admire her partnership with her husband and accompanist Daniel Barenboim for its passionate involvement and effortless intensity, there are still some listeners who wonder if perhaps du Pre and Barenboim do not bring a bit too much passionate intensity to all of the chamber music they recorded. Some listeners, for example, have always held that their recording of Beethoven's Sonatas and Variations for cello and piano were a bit over-done. Some say that du Pre leaned into her bow so hard in the lyrical lines of the Sonatas, Op. 5, that its hair frayed and split. Others say that Barenboim pressed so deep into the keys in the knotty counterpoint of the Sontatas Op. 102, that they splintered and broke. While some argue that Beethoven's Variations on Handel's "See, the Conqu'ring Hero Comes" are well-matched by du Pre and Barenboim's imperious interpretations, others suggest that Beethoven's two sets of Variations on Themes from Mozart's Die Zauberflote are ill-suited to their ardent enthusiasm. For those who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing they'll like. The rest will be able to take it or leave it. In EMI's stereo sound, du Pre and Barenboim sound just about but not quite in the same room with the listener.