I'm giving this disc five stars even though the Bruch really isn't very good (at least, in the orchestra - the winds are horribly out of tune; also, some solo trills are quite sharp [mic was probably too close, since you do have to trill sharp to get it to sound in tune at a distance]). I didn't buy it for the Bruch, I bought it for the Brahms sonatas, and wow, are they fantastic. The characteristic energy and instantly recognizable sound are both there, and du Pré and Barenboim are perfectly on the same wavelength regarding rubato and tempo fluctuations. Purists may argue that there are a few too many of the latter in the e minor, but they all seem so organic that I for one am not going to quibble with it. There is a true sense of performance as well - perhaps because occasional noises like the thud of a finger on the string or a page turn creep in. According to the liner notes these recordings were also filmed, which raises the possibility that they are single takes. It's funny, but the more advanced recording technology becomes, the more I turn to old recordings - I'm more than willing to put up with some surface noise (there is a little here, not much) to get some life into a piece. Too often these days CDs are released that are technically flawless and totally dead, slick and glib and overproduced. Not the case here, the music almost leaps out of the speakers, and not one gesture seems too calculated. In fact, I listened to this disc 13 times in the first two days I had it and still didn't get tired of it. Jacqueline du Pré died far too young; is it cliché to say she lives on in her recordings? No way - she's there.
