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

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

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

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

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

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 like coming to the United States because the United States played an important role in my life.