Benjamin Britten - Cello Suites Nos. 1 & 2; Cello Sonata (Mstislav Rostropovich)

Information

Composer: Benjamin Britten

• Cello Suite No. 1, Op. 72
• Cello Suite No. 2, Op. 80
• Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 65

Mstislav Rostropovich, cello

Benjamin Britten, piano

Date: 1968; 1961

Label: Decca

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Benjamin Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was a leading British composer, pianist and conductor. Trained at the Royal College of Music, he gained early acclaim with Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge and achieved international prominence with the opera Peter Grimes (1945). His major stage works include Billy Budd, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice, alongside innovative church parables such as Curlew River. Co-founder of the Aldeburgh Festival, he also composed celebrated song cycles, choral works including the War Requiem, and notable orchestral and chamber music.

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Mstislav Rostropovich (27 March 1927 – 27 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor, one of the best-known cellists of the 20th century. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, he was trained by his parents and at the Moscow Conservatory (1943–48), where he was a professor from 1956. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. Although sometimes criticized for occasional over-romanticism, Rostropovich was admired for his keen musicianship. He was also well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works (over 100 pieces), which enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since.

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