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Tchaikovsky: Ballet Suites

from: Universal Classics

Release Date October 14, 1996
One might have thought that the Ballet suites have been recorded too many times, for anyone to get excited about 'another' recording! In truth these are fabulous performances, with inner detail that I have to say I haven't heard in any other recordings! At an incredibly low price, I urge anyone thinking of buying a recording of the suites to look no further.
A superb cellist and wonderful conductor, golly how we will miss him!

CD-Charts Position 2
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Beethoven - Triple Concerto. Brahms - Double Concerto

from: EMI Classics

Release Date October 05, 1998
I have owned this recording since it first came out and I wore out two LP's. I am not Karajan's greatest fan but here he is in the repertoire he does best and he has three soloists who all thoroughly deserve the epithet "great". The tempi are spot on. The playing of Oistrakh and Rostropovich in the slow movement still takes my breath away. Throughout the three soloists empathise and play together perfectly and in the final movement with real playfulness. I have never tired of this recording in the near 40 years I have owned it. The CD coupling with the Brahms is a sensible one and it is well played. Oistrakh remains my favourite violinist not just for his richness of tone but for his breadth of repertoire. Rostropovich was, arguably, the ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
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Haydn - Cello Concertos 1 & 2

directed by: Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Release Date February 07, 2000
Silken cello playing engineered to also eliminate any sound of the bow stick and pick-ups. This is truly one of the greatest recordings of the century. Ever so slightly there is a touch of uncertainty in the opening bars of the orchestral playing, playing without a conductor, but it soon disappears as the works procede. I can't think how these works could be performed better. It won a Gramophone award, Diapason d'Or and Choc della Musique award.

CD-Charts Position 4
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Dvorák: Cello Concerto / Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme

by: Mstislav Rostropovich Berliner Philharmoniker Herbert Karajan

Release Date April 04, 1995
Whoever is going to buy this cd will be certainly satisfied with it. It contains an excellent performance of Dvorak cello concerto. However its status as the "best", definitive performance (if ever these kind of statements can make any sense) of this work is certainly excessive. For instance, Rostropovich with Talich is not as sumptuously played but it is certainly more idiomatic. Personally I prefer it. The famous Casals recording is, as cello playing, unmatchable. The pulse and phrasing of Casals are a class apart even for Rostropovich. Du Pre with Celibidache provides such a moving performance which, for all its smoothnes, richness and fullness of sound, the Rostropovich-Karayan cannot match.

CD-Charts Position 5
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An Equal Music / Verwandte Stimmen - Music From the Novel

by: Various Artists

Release Date January 17, 2000
To accompany Vikram Seth's novel 'An Equal Music' - this two-CD set of nearly two and a half hours, is exquisite even if the book doesn't appear on your bookshelf!
Seth himself has chosen the performances and the playing is breath-taking!
Included is Schubert's, 'Trout', which whisks me back to first year in secondary school and the end of year production - real nostalgia.
Vaughan Williams/The Lark Ascending - captivating!

Certainly a worthy investment and a lovely way to spend a summer's evening with a glass, or two, of chilled white wine!

CD-Charts Position 6
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Schubert: String Quintet in C

by: Mstislav Rostropovich

Release Date July 08, 1992
To accompany Vikram Seth's novel 'An Equal Music' - this two-CD set of nearly two and a half hours, is exquisite even if the book doesn't appear on your bookshelf!
Seth himself has chosen the performances and the playing is breath-taking!
Included is Schubert's, 'Trout', which whisks me back to first year in secondary school and the end of year production - real nostalgia.
Vaughan Williams/The Lark Ascending - captivating!

Certainly a worthy investment and a lovely way to spend a summer's evening with a glass, or two, of chilled white wine!

CD-Charts Position 7
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Bach: Cello Suites. Rostoprovich [Boxed set]

from: EMI

Release Date May 01, 1995
It is difficult to know what to add to the many useful and intelligent reviews already posted on Amazon, but anyone who owns this recording feels the compulsion to share his enthusiasm with other music lovers. While other cellists - particulalry Casals and Fournier - have made indispensable records of their interpretation of these sublime suites, only this one offers everything you would require in a performance: full, deep recorded sound with the slight resonance and aura around it which the Burgundian gothic cathedral of Vezelay provided (Slava chose this venue particularly for its rich acoustic); flawless playing by perhaps the greatest cellist ever; wonderfully illuminating notes which both enhance your understanding of the music and also of how Rostropovich ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 8
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Beethoven: The Cello Sonatas

by: Mstislav Rostropovich Sviatoslav Richter

Release Date March 12, 2001
The cello and piano sonatas are among Beethoven's most lively, melodious and inventive pieces. All five sonatas but especially the earlier three find the master in heroic mood, captured brilliantly by the two great Russians in these recordings. They reach great depths of emotion in the Adagio of the last sonata, one of the most moving pieces composed by Beethoven. I have heard many versions of these works, but in spite of some slightly recessed recording, these ones have given me unalloyed pleasure since I first encountered them on LP. Rostropovich huge tone is admirably balanced by Richter highly sensitive and even delicate pianism. For a man with huge hands and even bigger musical personality, the intimacy that he brings to the quieter movements is remarkable. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Mstislav Rostropovich - Complete EMI Recordings

by: Mstislav Rostropovich

Release Date October 06, 2008
The cello and piano sonatas are among Beethoven's most lively, melodious and inventive pieces. All five sonatas but especially the earlier three find the master in heroic mood, captured brilliantly by the two great Russians in these recordings. They reach great depths of emotion in the Adagio of the last sonata, one of the most moving pieces composed by Beethoven. I have heard many versions of these works, but in spite of some slightly recessed recording, these ones have given me unalloyed pleasure since I first encountered them on LP. Rostropovich huge tone is admirably balanced by Richter highly sensitive and even delicate pianism. For a man with huge hands and even bigger musical personality, the intimacy that he brings to the quieter movements is remarkable. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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Rostropovich - Master Cellist

from: Universal Classics

Release Date March 08, 2002
This two CD set is worth buying for Rostropovich's interpretation of the Schumann cello concerto alone. The Schumann has been recorded by all the big names and as a result there are many fine versions available. However, none of them compare to this one... duPre has the strengh and power but lacks refinement... Isserlis sacrifices intensity for technical perfection... Yo Yo Ma's interpretation is engaging but hardly heart-rending. Only Rostropovich does the music justice. Here passion, sensitivity and longing are united in the most exquisite cello tone imaginable. More than any other this recording communicates the soul of the cello.
The recording of the Dvorak cello concerto included here is widely regarded as definitive and has yet to be surpassed. It ... Read More: