Nostalgia of the Infinite

Heartbreakingly lovely, this. The thought of stepping onto a train in the middle of the 1960s and finding in one of the carriages, Jacqueline du Pre playing a Franciose Hardy song. Are such dreamy, off-the-cuff things possible anymore?

(Indeed, I wonder if anyone can listen to du Pre now and not hear, amidst the earthy brilliance of her playing, also how unforgivably short her life was?)

I first saw this footage, this snapshot, at the beginning of a du Pre documentary and it stunned me then. I've been looking for it ever since. I guess it's fitting that the person who clipped it here has also named it 'Nostalgia of the Infinite', perhaps hinting that such mercurial moments can be found again, regained, just as easily as they are lost. Something so private and effervescent about the whole thing, that scenery gliding past the windows all those years ago. Makes you want to run somewhere, maybe catch a train at the last minute.



I swear, the BBC would be doing itself a favour if it went back to 16mm black and white cameras (something it may very well have to do in the near future, anyway).