Shostakovich’s music always sends shivers down my spine. What is immediately apparent is that this Cello Concerto is fraught with unexpressed emotions. This work signalled a return to composition for Shostakovich after a horrible period of creative torpor. What is equally apparent though is that he did not lose his unique voice and style. Expansive in sound and moving from jerky syncopated rhythms to lamenting slow movements, this has everything. The second work on this recording is the Cello Sonata, which was written 25 years earlier and musically sounds like a completely different composer – until you listen between the notes. This is a wonderful combination of works, so much the same and yet so different. It is a must for fans of Shostakovich or indeed, anyone interested in emotion and how it makes or breaks the man.