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Author: Roshi on April 27 2007 Viewed 1901 times. 12 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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Mstislav Rostropovich, the great cellist and conductor, died today. An amazing fellow and tremendous cellist - he did a lot to champion new music of this century. Many composers wrote pieces for him (such as Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Britten), and he commissioned lots of pieces as well. He was also known for his use of the bent endpin (invented by Paul Tortelier), which made the fingerboard lie nearly horizontally, aiding in his effortless technique.
He also had a wonderfully snarky sense of humor (such as when he'd tape playboy centerfolds to his accompanist's score), and championed artistic freedom in Russia when such sentiments were not popular. He will be greatly missed.
Anyway, nytimes has a much better obit than I could ever give: link .
Also, npr has some wonderful sound clips with their story, including one from Britten's Cello Suite 1 (which he wrote for Rostropovich): link
I thought I'd also post a few youtube gems of the man performing:
One of his most famous performances, playing at the fall of the Berlin wall:
link
1st Cello Suite, Prelude:
link
3rd Cello Suite, Bourree:
Beethoven's 4th Cello Sonata:
Don Quixote:
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04/27/07
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mlbot
Alas poor Rostropovich, I hardly knew ye.
04/27/07
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skab
RIP
why is it i inly learn about great musicians after they've died?
thanks for the vids roshi
i'll have to try to find some of the Prokofiev pieces. i was raised on Prokofiev thanks to my mum.
04/27/07
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Roshi
Sure, my pleasure. There used to be a bunch more on youtube, though I think they were taken down due to copyright violations.
This thread of remembrances over at Cello Chat is quite nice as well: link
edited: Apr 27 2007
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Roshi
Also, it just seems like so many tremendous people have died in this and the last year. Larger than life artists, like Kurt Vonnegut (like we've discussed before), Rostropovich, James Brown, Robert Altman.
Or maybe it's just as I've gotten older that I notice these things more.
04/28/07
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deltasleep
Its not that so many great people have died recently, its that so many great people were born about 70-80 years ago! Whats troubling is that either theres a real absence of great writers and musicians now, or they are all going to waste on a population who is too apathetic. Or we are all just so medicated on psych drugs and the internet that nothing drives the greatness out of us and into the world any more.
And I really don't know which of those is the most disturbing.
edited: Apr 28 2007
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soundhdack
 One of my favorites. But I'm very happy that he was here and willing to share. 
These are words I wholeheartedly agree with. Excerpted from an open letter written by Slava, submitted to the press in 1970:
“Explain to me, please, why in our literature and art so often people absolutely incompetent in this field have the final word,” he asked in the letter. “Every man must have the right fearlessly to think independently and express his opinion about what he knows, what he has personally thought about and experienced, and not merely to express with slightly different variations the opinion which has been inculcated in him.”
04/29/07
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Fredo
That is very very sad news indeed. Shostokovich wrote for him too, as did Schnittke. His performances of Shostakovich's second cello concerto (which I believe was written for him) and soooooo many of Schnittke's cello works have moved me for many years now. Rostropovich was part of a trio of musicians who have represented for me the pulse of real musicianship. They include Rostropovich, Gidon Kremer and Yuri Bashmet. They often played together and had pieces written for them by the greatest living composers (who, alas, are all dead now.)
04/29/07
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Fredo
hahaha, wow!!!:
In an interview in The New York Times last year, Mr. Rostropovich said of Shostakovich, “He was the most important man in my life, after my father.”
He added: “Sometimes when I’m conducting, I see his face coming to me. Sometimes it’s not really a happy face — I conduct maybe a bit too slow. So I conduct faster, and the face disappears.”
04/30/07
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Roshi
Yeah, saw that, Fredo...would be crazy to have the ghost of shostakovich at your shoulder!
I need to check out more Schnittke...I have the string quartets, which I really love, so I need to track down the Slava recordings...
04/30/07
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Roshi
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