The work is in five movements: On 21 September 1960, a concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London introduced Britten to the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.
The programme included the British premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto, performed by Rostropovich, alongside Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.
"No, but at the concert tonight, every time Britten admired something in your playing, he would poke me in the ribs, and say, 'Isn't that simply marvelous!'
[1]After the performance, Rostropovich, already established as an obsessive commissioner of new works, pleaded with Britten to write him a piece for cello.
[3] The final Moto perpetuo movement uses the DSCH motif (the musical transformation of Shostakovich's name) as a tribute to the composer who inspired Britten to write for cello.