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

The cello is a hero because of its register - its tenor voice. It is a masculine instrument, whereas the violin is feminine because of its soprano pitch. When the cello enters in the Dvorak Concerto, it is like a great orator.

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

I never studied, but I had the best teachers.

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.

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