When he was fifteen years old, he had learned all the Cello Suites of Bach, all "Caprices" by Piatti and 32 cello concertos. At fifteen he played a piece for four cellos by Klengel with Emanuel Feuermann, Fritz Schertel and Julius Klengel in Leipzig. In the same year, 1931, he gave his first public performance of Dvořák's Cello Concerto at the Conservatory in Leipzig. The same year he also made his debut as soloist with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra with Haydn's Cello Concerto in D major.