26 miles 385 yards is the length you’ll need to run to complete a Marathon.

Well, the Russian cellist Mstsilav Rostropovich did something even more daunting in 1967, when in the space of two weeks he performed 26 works for cello and orchestra at 8 concerts with the London Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York City -- including some world premieres!

Oh, and just to make it easier, he performed everything from memory.

We should also mention, I suppose, that, during those weeks in New York, Rostropovich was asked to leave his hotel because other guests there complained about his practicing all night!

On today’s date in 1967, New England composer Walter Piston’s “Variations for Cello and Orchestra” was one of the new works premiered during Rostropovich’s concerto marathon.

After appearing with the Boston Symphony the previous year, Rostropovich had asked Piston to write something for him, suggesting only, "Please don't write for the player--write for the instrument." Piston took that to mean Rostropovich didn’t want flash, but substance.

After receiving the score, Rostropovich was astonished to learn that Piston himself did not play the cello, so idiomatically had the composer written for the instrument.

For his part, Piston considered the new work for Rostropovich among the best he ever wrote. "I put everything I had into that piece,” he said. “It takes a lifetime of knowledge to write for a man like that."