Day 5

Welcome to Day 5!
You should just be able to sit down and bust out your practice today! Sweet!

Downloads:
A quick reflection on your practice for the last 5 days.

D.aily practice check-in

Today’s Recommended Listening:

Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Cello Concerto: Movement 1
Jacqueline Du Pré / London Symphony (John Barbirolli conducting)
[Spotify] - 8 minutes

A Concerto is a work with a featured soloist who is being backed up by an orchestra. Most major composers from ~1850 on have written at least one Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, so if there’s a composer you particularly enjoy it’s worth searching for their name + cello concerto. (Notable exceptions: Chopin, Liszt, Mahler, Wagner, Bartok, Stravinsky. These composers and the people who like these composers are not your friends!).

Elgar was an English composer probably best-known for Pomp and Circumstance (the song they play at graduations everywhere). When he wrote his tragic Cello Concerto following World War I, it received terrible reviews (apparently, not enough orchestra rehearsal). It received similarly bad reviews in performances around the world and was generally not considered a great piece…

But in the 60’s, the rising star from Britain, Jacqueline Du Pré, made this recording at age 20 recording… and now everyone has recorded the Elgar. Jacqueline Du Pré was the rising talent of her generation before her career was tragically cut short at age 28 when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She died at 42, but she left a stunning number of recordings, many of whom included collaborations with her husband, the conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim.

And wow could she play - what a recording this Elgar is. I have multiple professional colleagues who decided to be cellists because of this exact recording. One of the most memorable openings to any piece ever. I hope that you find this recording as worthy of lifelong repeat listens as I do :)

What to explore next:

  1. Edward Elgar | Enigma Variations for Orchestra - “Nimrod” [big cello section feature]

  2. Cesar Franck | Cello Sonata - Du Pré / Barenboim [for more of Du Pré]

  3. Anna Clyne | DANCE for Cello & Orchestra [for a stunning new British concerto]

See you tomorrow!
—Eric