Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor, performed by Jacqueline Du Pre

YouTube link. 

With her husband Daniel Barenboim conducting the London Philharmonic.

Even if you think you don't like cello concertos, give this a minute or two to get past the intro and into the body of the movement, where it becomes more euphonious and lyrical.  It is, in any case, a signature piece by a world-acclaimed performer.

The piece was composed during the summer of 1919 at Elgar's secluded cottage "Brinkwells" near Fittleworth, Sussex, where during previous years he had heard the sound of the artillery of World War I rumbling across the Channel at night from France. In 1918, Elgar underwent an operation in London to have an infected tonsil removed, a dangerous operation for a 61-year-old man. After regaining consciousness after sedation, he asked for pencil and paper, and wrote down the melody that would become the first theme from the concerto... The work did not achieve wide popularity until the 1960s, when a recording by Jacqueline du Pré caught the public imagination and became a classical best-seller.

This video was recorded in 1967, several years before Jacqueline Du Pre's career was devastated by the onset of multiple sclerosis.

Via Lushlight.