Steven’s Vingt Regards was another revelation to me; and I’m convinced, in both cases, that it would be very hard to hear these pieces done otherwise for quite a long time, but then my perspective is very different from yours.

Does the filming mean there’ll be a telly recording, with visuals? That be the next best thing to a CD, though I must tell you that Mike Spring of Hyperion said something to the effect that maybe he should have tried to grab you for a recording of the Quatuor – if you are not too modest, you might try and press the case…

oh, I loved the silence after the end, what a great audience! And in a chambermusic concert one rarely plays encores, normally only after recitals or orchestra concerts, and you are right, after the Quatuor pour la fin du temps it would be rather inappropriate to play anything. We were very pleased with the good house – I prefer some empty seats over a crowd which sells out a hall because it loves going to events/stars; normally audiences like that don’t care as much about music as in our case.
My favorite cellists? Well, thanks for your Feuermann comparison, whom I adore very much – if I had a tenth of him, I’d be really happy! Oh, there are many wonderful cellists, dead and alive, everybody has his strengths and weaknesses, obviously there is always a bigger quantity of good instrumentalists than musicians, but that has always been like that 🙂 Names? Everybody 🙂

I heard the wonderful concert in the Wigmore Hall on 10th December (that day was Messiaen’s 100th birthday). I didn’t know either the Ravel or the Messiaen but came because I’d heard your magnificent Prokofiev Prom and thought anything from you was likely to be good. I wasn’t disappointed. The Messiaen, and the performance of it by you four, blew me away. I agree that no-one could hear it without thinking there’s something good and special in the world, in among all the horrors. Having head it live, I couldn’t imagine wanting to listen to a recording, but I’ll remember the occasion forever. That moment of silence at the end, after Viviane stopped playing, was extraordinary – I was hoping nobody would spoil it by coughing or clapping too soon – and they didn’t! Quite right not to play an encore, how could you possibly follow that? I wish more people could have heard it and feel embarrassed that the Wigmore Hall, although comfortably full, wasn’t completely packed. I got the feeling that you four must like and respect each other – and lucky you to do those journeys with Viviane!

I’m a beginner at the cello and find watching great players helps – practising the folowing day I found something with my bowing had clicked and felt right – thanks for that. You don’t have to reply to any or all of this – but I’d love to know which cellists, past or present, you most admire. With your beautiful clarity, insights and violinistic technique you remind me more of Feuermann than anyone else I’ve heard live or recorded.

Best wishes, Robert.