Shostakovich: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Shostakovich: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

• Alisa Weilerstein returns with Shostakovich's cello masterworks: Concertos 1 & 2

It was in Shostakovichs First Cello Concerto that cellist Alisa Weilerstein prompted the Los Angeles Times to marvel: Weilersteins cello is her id... She and the cello seem simply to be one and the same.<br><br>Alisa returns with Shostakovichs cello masterworks Concertos 1 & 2.<br><br>Composed for the virtuosic cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, the coupling and contrasting of these two arresting works is irresistible: the anti-heroic, relentless, emotionally suppressed First Concerto set alongside the sarcasm and isolation of the Second.<br><br>Weilersteins interpretation is underpinned by her meeting Rostropovich a close friend of the composer when she was 22, playing Shostakovich for him and absorbing his advice and wisdom.<br><br>Her outstanding rapport with conductor Pablo Heras-Casado and the Symphonieorchester Bayerischen Rundfunks is evident in this new recording.