In the repertoire for cello, few works are as challenging as Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1. Loosely inspired by the composer's admiration for Prokofiev's Sinfonia Concertante and composed in 1959 for the great Mstislav Rostropovich (who memorized it in just four days!), it is a favorite of cellists and of audiences alike. The first movement, under study here with master cellist Péter Szabó and pupil Janka Jámbor, is one of the many works by Shostakovich that plays on the DSCH motif (a cryptogram by which he often represented himself), and also nods to folk lullabies and to Shostakovich's 1948 score for the harrowing war film The Young Guard.
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Shostakovich's Cello Sonata - First and Second ...