American cellist Ralph Kirshbaum, now 79, has played with and conducted a whole list of famous orchestras in the world. His wiki page reads like a pamphlet advertising the soloist for a concert: only accolades and prizes. I find this kind of thing tiresome, and it leeds me to immediately look for something wrong. Maybe it is my inner Goth speaking.
What strikes me though, is that Kirshbaum is playing a Montagnana cello from 1729. These instruments are quite special: they’re huge in size, so much so that if you buy a cello case (I did) you find a warning that it is not for a Montagnana. It just doesn’t fit. All that size makes the instruments deliver a huge tone and enormous projection. Especially the two highest strings sound very sweet. It lends itself best for long phrases, the kind of bowing that was a favourite of Rostropovich, who also played one of these instruments.