Karen Buranskas, professor of cello at the University of Notre Dame, does an incredible job presenting these concertos on this recording, performing them with the appropriate combination of delicacy and passion. One of Dmitri Shostakovich's earlier works, his Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Minor Op. 40 was written in 1934 during an emotionally tumultuous period in his life. Shortly after it's premiere, his music was denounced by the Soviet Union. In 1948, much like Shostakovich, Sergei Prokovief's music was accused of formalism and much of his music was banned. When he penned his Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 119, he did not know if it would ever be performed in public. Dmitry Kabalevsky studied under Nikolay Myaskovsky, another prolific Russian composer, at the Moscow Conservatoire. His Cello Sonata stands amongst his greatest post-war successes.