The Three Suites for Cello Solo

- The first CD in the catalogue with all three the Britten Cello Solo Suites on one CD with a total playing time of well over 78 minutes!

- Britten wrote all three these Suites for Msistislav Rostropovich, who played them also in world premiere performances, but never recorded them.

- These works are among the highlights of the cello repertoire and in them Britten has exploited the wealth of possibilities of the instrument in a fascinating way and with a surprising diversity.

- Britten's Cello Suites are a great speciality of the young and extremely talented cellist Pieter Wispelwey, and invitations for performances in some of the main music centres or the USA and Europe for the forthcoming season have already been extended to him.

Pieter Wispelwey received his early training from Dicky Boeke and Almer Bijlsma in Amsterdam, and continued his studies with Paul Katz in the USA and William Pleeth in England. His repertoire ranges from J.S. Bach to Carter, Kagel and Schnittke. He regularly plays the complete solo cello suites by Bach and Britten and the complete sonatas by Beethoven and Brahms in his many recitals, the latter with Paul Komen, and in the USA with Lois Shapiro, as his piano partners. He also performs frequently as a soloist with orchestras and has recently played concertos by Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Elgar, Haydn, Dutilleux and Schnittke. Pieter Wispelwey gave his debut performance in the recital hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 1986 with a Beethoven recital. In 1985, he won the Elisabeth Evers Prize, an award given biennially to the most promising young Dutch musician. More recently he was elected to play as principal cellist for the prestigious Netherlands Music Prize. He has already recorded all six Bach Suites for solo cello, performed on period instruments, and in 1992 a double CD with the complete Beethoven Sonatas for cello and piano, with Paul Komen and also played on period instruments, will be released.