The tragedy of du Pré’s brief career is still fresh in the public memory and can be summarised here. She was born in Oxford on 26 January 1945 into a middle-class family in which music was important: her mother was a fine pianist and a gifted teacher. The French-sounding name came from her father’s Channel Islands ancestry. Just before her fifth birthday, when she was already showing musical promise, she heard the sound of a cello on the radio and the course of her life was set.

Sargent was a noted Sibelian. He recorded three of Sibelius’s seven symphonies for EMI and was slated to complete the cycle but the project was cancelled after Sibelius’s death. He was also honoured with the Knight Commander of the White Rose of Finland for his services to Sibelius’s music.

Jascha Heifetz was, probably, the greatest twentieth-century exponent of his instrument. Violin at its best, although some memorable recordings are … more memorable than others…

The 1960 famous recording by David Oistrakh and Otto Klemperer with French National Radio Orchestra, known as one of the best recordings of Brahms' violin concerto, is finally on SACD. In addition, to the disc added Beethoven's Triple Concerto with Sir Malcolm Sargent & Philharmonia Orchestra recorded in 1958. For this reprint, have been used a new master that was digitized at 96kHz/24bit from the original master, and mastered to the SACD layer and CD layer separately.