Rossini wrote an opera and named it The Barber of Seville. Featured was a character named Figaro, who sang some pretty catchy tunes, including one with the somewhat clunky title Largo al factotum.

So catchy was this tune, in fact, that Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (who knew catchy tunes, having scored more than 200 films) was taken to writing a set of variations for his good friend Gregor Piatigorsky who knew a thing or two about the cello.

But, devious as he was, Castelnuovo-Tedesco's vari...