You must play for the love of music. Perfect technique is not as important as making music from the heart.

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.

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.

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.

It is my aim, my destination in life to make the cello as beloved an instrument as the violin and piano.

Now I want to use money in a good way. I make foundations back home in Russia, I have sponsored vaccinations for more than one million children in my homeland and I have founded scholarships in the names of my great Russian compatriots - Oistrakh, Richter, Gilels, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Schnittke.