Resembling less the world's most eminent cellist than Zeus sitting behind his Duport Stradivarius, Mstislav Rostropovich transcended mere artistry to create a most human world. In other words, his recital on Sunday never descended to pretty-pretty silver threads of lovely melodies. This was cello-playing which plumbed every human emotion. It was brusque, powerful, passionate, clownish, elfin and compelling. But it was always authoritative. Unlike other visiting artists, Rostropovich chose a challenging and exhausting programme. Though the 69-year-old cellist never exhausted himself, he consistently challenged himself and his massively enthusiastic audience with interpretations that could be idiosyncratic, but inevitably right. His Bach Fifth Partita was devoid of empty virtuosity or artifice. But it also ignored the rhythmic incisiveness of the original. Rostropovich's supple sense of courante, the fugal harmonies of the opening, were transparent. But for Bach's Sarabande, Rostropovich broke the rules. The cellist broadened that wonderful single line, augmenting it with even greater volume until the centre, then turned it back into a mere whisper. Then, as if to show that this was the most human emotional experience, he burst into a brusque, almost rustic set of final dances. The opening Brahms, with his brilliant accompanist, pianist Igor Uryash, was sheer passion, played in the large grand manner with soaring melodies. Each work had its own character, but Shostakovich's Sonata was the paradigm of the cellist. Here was an unadorned opening movement, ending with the most cutting long coda. The finale can be bizarre and unsettling, but Rostropovich never stooped to crude buffooneries. His cello-playing hit the extremes, but, as with the whole evening, they were the musical extremes of human emotions themselves. Mstislav Rostropovich, cello, Igor Uryash, piano; Cultural Centre Concert Hall, Sunday, June 9