Mstislav Rostropovich plays Prokofiev

Prokofiev was in poor health and making fewer public appearances when he asked Rostropovich for help in rewriting Concerto Op. 58. Slava premiered the work, renamed Symphony-Concerto Op.125, and worked on the unfinished Concertino Op.132. He waited until 1st March 1950 to premiere Op.119 with Sviatoslav Richter, a piece he played more than a hundred times during his career. It was to become a cello & piano classic, gloriously following in the wake of Beethoven’s Op. 69.