I would rather have ideas and some difficulties of technique than a perfect technique and no ideas.

Explain to me, please, why in our literature and art so often people absolutely incompetent in this field have the final word.

You know creators, composers, need a palette for life, a color for life.

All my life I wanted to play music with love to every member of the audience.

People are craving this great progress in electronics, going after computers, the Internet, etc. It's a giant progress technologically. But they must have a balance of soul, a balance for human beauty. That means art has an important role.

When I started learning the cello, I fell in love with the instrument because it seemed like a voice - my voice.

In 1948 the first severe crash occurred in my life when Stalin put out his decree on formalism. There was a bulletin board in the Moscow Conservatory. They posted the decree, which said Shostakovichs compositions and Prokofievs were no longer to be played.