Originally shown on television in January 1995 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jacqueline du Pré’s birth, this is the third Christopher Nupen film of the cellist to appear on DVD this year. There is a fair degree of overlap between them, notably in the performances of the Elgar Cello Concerto and Beethoven’s Ghost Trio, each given complete in the earlier films. None of the works listed above is heard complete here, but excerpts from each vividly illustrate the exuberance typical of du Pré.

Using some of the same interviews as before, generally from different sections, Nupen has built up a portrait which reflects the joy which surrounded du Pré before the onset of multiple sclerosis put an untimely end to her career. Most moving and illuminating of all is the extended section devoted to her association with her ‘cello-daddy’, William Pleeth, who was one of the first to identify her unique gift: ‘You could see it strongly on the first day’.

Crowning his interview is a hilarious sequence of clips of her playing Offenbach duets with him. Hilarious, too, is the backstage scene, when before their performance of Schubert’s Trout Quintet, du Pré, Barenboim, Perlman, Zukerman and Mehta played each other’s instruments. Thanks to Nupen we can now share their fun, while lamenting the tragedy of du Pré’s career.