The Brodsky Quartet, continuing to pioneer unique repertoire on Chandos Records, presents a programme of works from the ‘New World’ that explores an American sound in the string quartet. The earliest piece on the disc is the American String Quartet, in F major by Antonín Dvorák, the only non-American composer in the release. His attempt to capture an American sound results in music of notable simplicity, directness, and good humour. In the String Quartet by Samuel Barber we hear an unashamedly romantic composer displaying a more European style. The central Adagio has become enormously popular in an arrangement for string orchestra. Far more distinctively American in idiom is the music of George Gershwin whose Lullaby was his first attempt at classical composition. Copland’s Two Pieces, a work written as a tribute to Gabriel Fauré, is featured along with an original arrangement by members of the Brodsky Quartet of his Hoe–Down. This famous work is enormously evocative of rural America and is heavily indebted to traditional tunes from Celtic settlers. Dave Brubeck is best known as a jazz pianist but he employs his classical training in Regret, which evokes the soundworld and emotional depth of the high baroque style while creating a unique link between the worlds of classical and jazz.

英國只有兩位弦樂家曾經獲得舉世的明星讚譽：一位是享受了長久而圓滿生涯的蘇格蘭小提琴演奏者威廉．普林姆羅斯，另一位便是如劃過音樂穹蒼的彗星一般的杜普蕾，而她的閃耀燃燒卻短短不過十年。
正如同另一位更早世代的悲劇名人：凱塞琳．菲瑞爾一樣--對英國的愛慕者而言，杜普蕾並不單單只是一位音樂家--她根本就是音樂的聖靈。然而她生命中的反諷卻在於--盛名如她，卻因為在那極為殘酷且終於奪命的惡疾初臨時、她所展現的勇氣而獲得更大的讚賞。
杜普蕾1946年1月26日生於牛津一個相當重視音樂的中產階級家庭，在即將年滿五歲之時，之前已經顯現音樂天賦的她從收音機裡聽到一段大提琴音樂，從此確定了她一生的追求。1956年，十一歲的她便已獲得蘇季雅大獎；之後在1961年，她成功的舉行了在倫敦的首度公演。1962年，她首度與管絃樂團合作、首度在倫敦著名逍遙音樂節演出，兩次都是演奏艾爾加的協奏曲，同時也是那時，她開始為EMI錄音。
在她錄製艾爾加協奏曲的1965年之前，她已經是個巨星。1971年7月，當她正要邁入另一段顛峰，她開始受到一種神祕的慢性病侵襲，而這嚴重地影響她的演奏，終於一種複合性的硬化症被診斷出來，經過一連串減緩又復發的殘酷過程，1973年她宣布退休；雖然還有少量的教學、也偶而公開露面，但是她永遠再也不可能演奏大提琴；她的健康持續地逐漸惡化，1987年10月19日，大提琴一代女傑杜普蕾於倫敦去世。