Jacqueline du Pré: A Gift beyond Words

Jacqueline du Pré, one of the greatest performing musicians that Britain has ever produced, was a musical phenomenon. Her 1965 recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Barbirolli is still regarded as one of the greatest classical recordings ever made, she was 20 at the time. Du Pré and her husband Daniel Barenboim were part of a group of outstanding young musicians which also included Pinchas Zukerman, Zubin Mehta and Itzhak Perlman, who frequently performed and collaborated with each other. Du Pré was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1973, the condition blighted the rest of her life, and she died at the age of 42 on October 19, 1987. This film, compiled by Christopher Nupen from the five prize-winning films he made during her lifetime, pays tribute to her on the 30th anniversary of her death.