72, 80, and 87) are a series of three compositions for solo cello, dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich.

The suites were the first original solo instrumental music that Britten wrote for and dedicated to Rostropovich, but Britten had earlier composed a cadenza for Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major, for Rostropovich, in 1964.

Rostropovich gave the premiere at the Aldeburgh Festival, Snape Maltings, on 17 June 1968.

In 1979 the Britten Estate authorised Julian Lloyd Webber to make the suite's first recording.

[7] The Third Suite is in nine movements, performed without pause: The work incorporates four Russian themes, including three arrangements of folksongs by Pyotr Tchaikovsky,[8] reminiscent of Beethoven's use of Russian themes in the Razumovsky quartets.