(Shostakovich) ‘outstanding ‘cellist, with a poetry of expression matching an infallible technique, very well recorded … under the composer’s supervision’ (Gramophone) (Myaskovsky) ‘overwhelming sense of nostalgia and an elegiac atmosphere … Rostropovich’s pioneering account is in a class of its own … could not be played with greater eloquence and restraint’ (Penguin Guide) ‘The soloist for whom the work was written and whose artistry has plainly exercised influence, is Mstislav Rostropovich … the ‘cello the natural voice of his unusually mature and wise musicianship’. (Tchaikovsky) ‘brilliantly performed and a winningly whimsical quality’ (Gramophone)
