Cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich was a central figure of Russian musical life between the War and his exile in the United States. He was the close friend of many predominant composers such as Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Nikolay Myaskovsky. This collection provides the greatest chamber or concertante cello works by Soviet composers and Romantic masterpieces (Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Tchaikovsky). It also highlights the baton skills of Rostropovich, conducting the London Symphony Orchestra or the Orchestre de Paris, and features soloists such as Anne-Sophie Mutter or Maxim Vengerov.