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Best cellists of all time: From Jacqueline du Pré to Gautier Capuçon, we list some of the cello's most eloquent performers.
- W H Squire (1871-1963), British
- Ofra Harnoy (b. 1965), Israeli-Canadian
- Guilhermina Suggia (1885-1950), Portuguese
- Lynn Harrell (1944-2020), American
- Julian Lloyd Webber (b. 1951), British
- Gaspar Cassadó (1897-1966), Spanish
- Sheku Kanneh-Mason (b. 1999), British
- Alban Gerhardt (b. 1969), German
- János Starker (1924-2013), Hungarian
- Danil Shafran (1923-97), Russian
The first-ever recording of a cello solo was made in 1898 by W(illiam) H(enry) Squire. His account of the Elgar Cello Concerto made exactly 30 years later with Hamilton Harty is not only a great interpretation but allows us to hear many of the elements of 19th-century cello playing (slight but continuous vibrato, for instance, and many portamenti)....
Harnoy became the first Canadian classical instrumental soloist since Glenn Gould to be signed to a major international label when she joined RCA Victor in 1987. She is perhaps best known for her world premiere recording of Offenbach’s Cello Concerto, but has also given us premieres of Viotti’s Concerto in C, some of Vivaldi’s, and the North Americ...
Thanks to a striking 1923 portrait of her by Augustus John, Suggia was the most recognizable and glamorous cellist of the early 20th century. She was a pupil of Pablo Casals (and lived with him for six years from 1906). From 1914, she made London her home. Her recordings (such as Bruch’s Kol Nidreiand Lalo’s concerto) reveal an intense and passiona...
A pupil of Leonard Rose, Harrell was, like his teacher, equally well regarded as a soloist and as a pedagogue. His many teaching posts included becoming Principal of London’s Royal Academy of Music (1993-95). Vladimir Ashkenazy was among his most frequent collaborators on disc (as pianist and conductor), and among his wide and eclectic repertoire w...
Few cellists in the last part of the 20th century did more to raise the profile of the cello in the popular imagination than Lloyd Webber. With his trademark Beatles mop, and as an eloquent campaigner for music education, he was a ubiquitous figure on the international music scene until 2014, when a herniated disc in his neck ended his performing c...
Cassadó was a pupil of Casals from 1908 (he called him his “spiritual father”), and the two remained close friends until the Spanish Civil War when Casals was forced into exile. Cassadó is most famous for his arrangement of Schubert’s “Arpeggione” Sonata, which he turned into a cello concerto, and his recording of Tartini’s Concerto in D (actually ...
The new kid on the block first came to public attention in 2016 by winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, but won international renown when he played at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, which was watched by three billion people. Generous of tone and spirit, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, one of the best cellists, is an i...
The son of a soprano and violinist (in the Berlin Philharmonic), Gerhardt is one of those musicians with an insatiable curiosity about the repertoire of his chosen instrument. His discography includes many works outside the standard literature, such as the two concertos by Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, and others by Dohnányi, d’Albert, and Volkmann. A chari...
Starker gave his first performances in Budapest at six, began teaching at eight (!), and had five pupils by the age of twelve. A grand-pupil of David Popper, he survived the Nazis and left Europe for the USA in 1948, where, after a succession of orchestral posts, he recommenced his solo career. His immense discography embraces a huge range of the c...
A cellists’ cellist, Shafran was less well-known to Western audiences than his contemporary Rostropovich, under whose shadow he fell somewhat, though there are those that judge him to be Rostropovich’s superior. Noted for the spontaneity of his playing, unconventional fingering, mastery of high registers, and risk-taking, Shafron used the same cell...
- Jeremy Nicholas
May 1, 2024 · This list features the all time greatest cellists ever and famous cello players, ranked by music lovers and including, Johann Sebastian Bach, Pablo Casals, Jacqueline du Pré, Zoë Keating, Alfred Wallenstein, and Dimitry Markevitch.
Feb 13, 2024 · Rostropovich’s family were all composers, cellists, or pianists, and he grew to become a virtuoso cellist and a significant influence on the cello players of today.
Mstislav Rostropovich: a guide to the great Russian cellist, who numbered both Britten and Shostakovich among his musical collaborators.
Apr 10, 2024 · Manuel Villar Lifac shares his list of the greatest cellists of all time, those who left an indelible mark on the world of music.
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A person who plays the cello is called a cellist. This list of notable cellists is divided into four categories: 1) Living Classical Cellists; 2) Non-Classical Cellists; 3) Deceased Classical Cellists; 4) Deceased Non-Classical Cellists .
