Selected Recordings
Beatrice Harrison, 1920 with the London Symphony
Pablo Casals, 1945, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Mstislav Rostropovich, 1965, with the Moscow Philharmonic
Jacqueline Du Pré, 1965, with the London Symphony
Yo-Yo Ma, 1997, with the Chicago Symphony
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 2019, at the BBC Proms
My final paper is attached as a file.
Proposal
My final project is inspired by the idea that recorded sound has an identity separate from the original source; and therefore, could also have a different lifespan, audience, and influence. For this project, I will look specifically at the recorded legacy of cellist Jacqueline DuPre. Perhaps DuPre’s longest-spanning legacy is that of her performances and recordings of the Elgar Cello Concerto, which notably brought the piece to fame and placed it among one of the ‘great’ pieces for cello. DuPre also famously died at a young age, her career cut drastically short by a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. My goal for my final project is to provide a side-by-side comparison of DuPre’s career and influence during her life as a performer and the influence of her recorded legacy.
My next steps are to research DuPre’s career as a performer; including the concerts she played, the places she traveled, and the people she interacted with. I will also survey the collection of recordings that exist of her performances and work on the Elgar Cello Concerto. My initial thesis is that her recorded identity continues to have a profound influence on the way cellists interpret this piece. How much of Elgar is actually DuPre?
My final project will be in the form of a research paper, which I will present to the class along with videos and recordings I come across in my research.
Annotated Bibliography
Beck, Frank. “Elgar- His Music, Cello Concerto in E minor, op 85.” [http://www.elgar.org/3cellcon.htm.] Accessed October 19, 2020.
This source provides some preliminary information on the background of the E minor concerto as well as information on the first performance by cellist, Felix Salmond. Salmond is also the first cellist to record the concerto, though his recording is lesser known than that of Beatrice Harrison, who is credited for the first quality recording.
Anderson, Robert. Elgar / Robert Anderson. First American ed. Master Musicians Series. New York: Schirmer Books: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1993.
Contains some information about the original reading and performance of the concerto.
Del Mar, Norman. Conducting Elgar / Norman Del Mar ; Completed and Edited by Jonathan Del Mar. Oxford [England]: New York: Clarendon Press ; Oxford University Press, 1998.
This book covers a variety of Elgar’s works and the nuances of conducting these pieces. There is a chapter on the cello concerto, which goes through each movement of the piece discussing the nuances of tempo and phrase traditions. While the interpretation outlined in the book is simply that of the author, it could provide some insight as to popularly accepted nuances of the concerto.
Potter, Tully. "Du Pré, Jacqueline." Grove Music Online. 2001; Accessed 22 Oct. 2020.
This is the Grove entry for Jacqueline Du Pré. The content is primarily biographical, but the value of the source is in the bibliography and discography.
Potter, Tully. “Elgar Cello Concerto: The classic interpretation.” The Strad (2019). [https://www.thestrad.com/playing/elgar-cello-concerto-the-classic-interpretation/9451.article]
Solomon, Justin. “Deconstructing the Definitive Recording: Elgar’s Cello Concerto and the Influence of Jacqueline du Pré.” [https://people.csail.mit.edu/jsolomon/assets/dupre.pdf]. Accessed October 19, 2020.
This essay offers some analytical information about the stylistic characteristics that are unique to Jacqueline Du Pré's recording of Elgar, and compares them to markings in the score.
Wallfisch, Raphael. “A Human Heart.” The Strad, September 4, 2019.
https://www.thestrad.com/playing-and-teaching/a-human-heart/9398.article.
I think you are really hitting on a big topic with recordings- how much does an iconic recording influences the way we interpret the piece.
As someone who loves DuPre's recordings I am really interested in your project, but I think the idea of "iconic" recordings is an even bigger topic you could get into. How did Casals influence our interpretation of Bach's cello suites, and was it re-interpreted by Yo-Yo Ma? Did Rostropovich influence the way we play the pieces written for him? What about pieces that cellists stole from other instruments such as the Schumann Fantasiestucke? Is there an iconic cello recording responsible for making it more popular on cello than clarinet?
I do think that DuPre's interpretation of Elgar is more iconic than most of these other examples and the comparison of her physical and digital identities is certainly worth exploring, but I would be really interested to see a case study of how iconic recordings shape interpretation.
Great title BTW!