The great cello repertoire all started with JS Bach and his six suites of dances – that is unless you believe his second wife Anna Magdalena wrote them. In particular you could argue that it all goes back to the first of the suites, the iconic G Major set with its majestic and instantly recognisable prelude.

But there was another enormous influence on the 20th-century repertoire, the Russian maestro Mstislav Rostropovich, whose playing inspired works by both Dmitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten, and these twin elements were neatly tied together in a compelling recital by British cellist Natalie Clein, accompanied by the enormously talented young Brisbane pianist Alex Ranieri.

^{Cellist Natalie Clein. Photo © Sussie Ahlburg}

The 40-year-old Clein’s first big break came at the age of 16 when her performance of the Elgar Concerto earned her the BBC Young Musician of the Year award and the inevitable plaudits as “the new Jacqueline du Pré”. She is currently artist in residence and director of musical performance at Oxford University, and is in such demand internationally that she hadn’t had a chance to check the programme for her appearance in the Utzon Series,...