Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his first Cello Concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich in 1959. Premiered on October 4, 1959 in Leningrad with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Yevgeny Mravinsky, the four-movement work impresses with its formal clarity, rhythmic splendor and high soloistic virtuosity. The memorable main motif of the first movement recurs throughout the work like an idiom. The slow second movement is dominated by lyrical depth, while the cadenza of the third movem...