Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 107 / Cello Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 126

"Maria Kliegel's account of Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto is mightily impressive...[she] is strongly compelling throughout he ...reading of Concerto No. 2...these accomplished performances are very unlikely to disappoint...another bargain from Naxos."
- Classic CD - October 1996

"Kliegel manages to convey a feeling of spontaneous improvisation and her command of the instrument is impressive. Naxos's recording is nicely ambient."
- Gramophone - Oct.1996

"Through someone else's performance I had fallen temporarily out of love with the first of Shostakovich's two cello concertos, but my affections swelled up again on hearing this marvellous performance... Not for the first time, Naxos in its deliberate cultivation of a modestly-priced catalogue has also produced a first-class musical offering."
- BBC Music Magazine - Nov. 1996

It is fitting that we have a pupil of Mstislav Rostropovich, the distinguished German cellist, Maria Kliegel, as soloist in the concertos that were written for the great Russian cellist.

The dramatic First Concerto, premiered in 1959 with its massive and violent cadenza, was followed six years later by a less outgoing Second.