鈥榃rite for the cello everything that your heart tells you, never mind how difficult it is!鈥�

Rostropovich encouraged Britten. Britten鈥檚 quasi-concerto is big-hearted and intense, placing immense demands on its soloist.

There鈥檚 also an epic quality to Shostakovich鈥檚 tenth which starts in dark desolation and ends in dazzling brightness, giving one of music鈥檚 most brutal evocations of violence and terror along the way. Its conclusion seems to speak as much of barely-suppressed fury and raw defiance as it does of glorious triumph.