By the mid 1950s, the Hungarian cellist Janos Starker (1924-2013) was already a legend and principal cellist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Reiner. EMI producer Walter Legge arranged for Starker to record all the essential works in his repertoire and this stereo recording of the Dvořák concerto, made at London's Kingsway Hall in 1956, has become a highly collectable LP. As the Telegraph obituary put it: 'Starker possessed a phenomenal technique. His bow attacked the strings with both a ravishing intensity and a deep, biting edge. He was equally startling to watch, his piercing black eyes glaring out from beneath deep black eyebrows.' But he wasn't all scary – many a recital programme involved him performing in short sleeves, puffing on a cigarette (he smoked 60 a day) and sipping scotch, interspersed with sharing his low opinions on conductors. In the original October 1957 mono review in GRAMOPHONE - Lionel Salter somewhat grudgingly conceded that Starker's Dvořák was "undeniably a great performance..." but by the time the stereo version was reviewed in January 1959, he seemed more enthusiastic: "Starker's playing is of great virtuosity and often of great poetry..." and concluded the LP was "certainly among the leading recorded performances of this wonderful concerto."