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A Passing: Mstislav Rostropovich
Topic Started: Apr 27 2007, 06:04 AM (381 Views)
George K
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Finally
It's a bad week for Russians.

Famed cellist Rostropovich dead at 80

By John von Rhein
Tribune music critic

April 27, 2007, 8:05 AM CDT

Russian cellist, pianist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, whose passionate music-making on the cello made him one of the foremost exponents of the instrument in the 20th and early 21st Centuries and who inspired countless composers to write works for the cello, died Friday in a Moscow cancer hospital, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. He was 80.

Rostropovich, who lived in Paris after self-imposed exile, suffered from intestinal cancer.

Rumors about declining health began to spread in 2006, when he underwent unspecified surgery in Geneva and later that year received treatment for an aggravated ulcer.

Rostropovich had been treated at a Moscow clinic in early 2007 for what was reported to be hepatic cirrhosis, or degeneration of the liver. At the time, rumors flew that he was dying, fed by his having been visited by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It later was discovered that Putin met Rostropovich to discuss details of a celebration the Kremlin was planning for March 27, 2007, Rostropovich's 80th birthday.

Rostropovich's iconic standing in the classical music world as one of the great cellists of all time was challenged only by his more general fame as an outspoken human rights advocate.

"The passing of Mstislav Rostropovich is a bitter blow to our culture," said author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was sheltered by Rostropovich during his bitter fight against Soviet authorities in the 1970s.

"He gave Russian culture worldwide fame. Farewell, beloved friend," Solzhenitsyn said, according to ITAR-Tass.

Rostropovich and his wife, the operatic soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, went into exile from the former Soviet Union in 1974. Four years earlier, he had written an open letter (never published) to leading Soviet newspapers and magazines supporting the proscribed author and Nobel prizewinner Alexander Solzhenitsyn, also to protest new Soviet restrictions on cultural freedom. He also hosted Solzhenitsyn during that time.

After being allowed to leave the USSR with his wife and family for a two-year stay abroad, based in Britain, Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya in 1978 were stripped of their Soviet citizenship for "acts harmful to the prestige of the USSR." He did not return to his homeland until 1990, following the breakup of the Soviet Union.

At the time, he led the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C., (of which he served as music director from 1977 to 1994) in a series of highly emotional concerts throughout Russia. In a gesture of political amity he played Bach at the Berlin Wall in 1989 when that symbol of oppression was being demolished.

When hard-line communists tried to overthrow then-president Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991, he rushed to the Russian parliament building to oppose the coup.

If the artistry of the eminent Catalan cellist Pablo Casals led to a new appreciation of the cello and its repertory in the early 20th Century, Mr. Rostropovich raised the profile of the instrument to even greater heights, as much by the overwhelming intensity and charisma of his performances as by the dozens of works written for him by composers of his day.

He developed particularly close musical and personal relationships with three of the composing giants of the mid-20th Century—Sergei Prokofiev, Benjamin Britten and Dmitri Shostakovich, his teacher. All three wrote works for Rostropovich that have become staples of the cello repertory, including Shostakovich's two cello concertos and Britten's "Symphony for Cello and Orchestra."

Others who composed works for him included Aram Khatchaturian, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Nikolai Miaskovsky, Reinhold Gliere, Tikhon Khrennikov, Moissei Vainberg, Alfred Schnittke, Witold Lutoslawski, Henri Dutilleux, Andrzej Panufnik, Henri Sauguet, Leonard Bernstein, Lukas Foss, Alun Hoddinott and Norbert Moret.

Rostropovich's cello playing was notable for its beauty of tone and richness of color, deep musical understanding and absolute emotional commitment; thanks in part to his huge discography, it inspired several generations of cellists.

He collaborated with many of the great musicians of his time, including conductors Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa and Gennady Rozhdestvensky; violinists David Oistrakh and Isaac Stern; pianists Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels and Martha Argerich; and flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal.

Time magazine once wrote that Rostropovich was a man of five Fs—fiddles, food, females, friends and "fodka." Everything he touched seemed to be larger than life, much like the hearty personality of the man friends and colleagues knew, simply, as Slava. The kisses and bear hugs he extended to musicians, friends and even perfect strangers after performances were simply an extension of the warm, distinctively Slavic sentiment that filled his musical personality to overflowing.

As a conductor, he showed rather less consistency, typically favoring emotional projection over precision, balance and structure. His hyper-expressive regard for the music, far from energizing his interpretations, sometimes would weigh them down to the point of stodginess. The basic problem, many musicians and critics felt, was that he lacked the baton technique to put his ideas across as naturally and spontaneously as he could do on the cello.

At his best, however, he could deliver satisfying performances of his "core" composers Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. Orchestral players gave him wanted despite his technical limitations.

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Rostropovich began his musical studies in early childhood with his parents. His mother was an accomplished pianist and his father was a former student of Casals and a teacher at Moscow's Gnesin Institute, where young Mstislav first studied. In 1943 he entered the Moscow Conservatory where he studied cello and composition. He graduated with the highest honors and in the late 1940s won competitions in Moscow and Eastern Europe. In 1956 he was appointed cello professor at the Moscow Conservatory.

Rostropovich made his American debut in 1956 at New York's Carnegie Hall. Critics and audiences alike were bowled over by his mastery of style and a colossal technique that allowed him to play everything flawlessly.

His skills as a pianist were apparent in the song recitals he undertook with his wife, whom he also conducted in such operas as Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" and "The Queen of Spades," Prokofiev's "War and Peace" and Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District."

Besides his wife, survivors include two daughters, Olga and Elena.
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AlbertaCrude
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A truly great person and artist has left us.

He will be missed.

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George K
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Dance, cello, dance!
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AlbertaCrude
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Тут играет Слава музыку великого Шостаковича!

Concerto for Violoncello & Orchestra in E-flat major, Op.107
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George K
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Spaciba (?sp)
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Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

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AlbertaCrude
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More accurate: Spasibo
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pianojerome
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HOLY CARP!!!
“[Shostakovich] gave me the manuscript of the First 'Cello Concerto on 2 August 1958. On the sixth I played it to him from memory, three times. After the first time he was S0 excited, and of course we drank a little bit of vodka. The second time I played not so perfect, and afterwards we drank even more vodka. The third time I think I played the Saint-Saens concerto, but he still accompanied his concerto. We were enormously happy."
Sam
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pianojerome
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HOLY CARP!!!
He was scheduled to come to my town in a couple weeks to receive a big award.
Sam
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musicasacra
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HOLY CARP!!!
:(

he was one of my favorite cellists.
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Dave Spelvin
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To paraphrase what Sixten Ehrling, a great Swedish conductor, once said to me about another great instrumentalist turned conductor:

As a conductor, he was a damn fine cellist.

On one memorable evening, I heard Rostropovich play three concerti in Carnegie Hall. So marvelous. On two other less memorable occasions, I heard him lead the National Symphony in solid, though pedestrian, orchestra concerts. He could be a good conductor when the stars aligned, but his lack of good technique really hurt him.
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AlbertaCrude
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An Inspiring Man and Musician


By Martin Steinberg
The Associated Press
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/04/28/016.html

Saturday, April 28, 2007.

A bear of a man who hugged practically anyone in sight, Mstislav Rostropovich was an effusive rather than an intimidating maestro, a teacher who nurtured Jacqueline du Pre, among many other great cellists.

"He was the most inspiring musician that I have ever known," said David Finckel, the Emerson String Quartet's cellist who studied with Rostropovich for nine years. "He had a way to channel his energy through other people, and it was magical."

Rostropovich's anti-Soviet leanings began with the Stalin-era denunciations of his teachers -- Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev.

Under Leonid Brezhnev's regime, Rostropovich and his wife, Bolshoi Opera soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, sheltered the dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn in their country house in the early 1970s.

After Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970, Rostropovich wrote an open letter to the Soviet media protesting the official vilification of the author.

"Explain to me please, why in our literature and art [that] so often, people [who are] absolutely incompetent in this field have the final word?" Rostropovich asserted in the letter, which went unpublished.

"I know that after my letter there will be undoubtedly an 'opinion' about me, but I am not afraid of it. I openly say what I think. Talent, of which we are proud, must not be submitted to the assaults of the past."

The couple's fight for cultural freedom resulted in the cancellation of concerts, foreign tours and recording projects. Finally, in 1974, they fled to Paris with their two daughters. Four years later, their Soviet citizenship was revoked.

After arriving in the West, "he was like a little boy, laughing, shouting, pinching himself to make sure these really were the streets in Paris," the late violinist Yehudi Menuhin recalled in his 1996 book "Unfinished Journey: Twenty Years Later."

Still, exile took its toll on Rostropovich.

"When Leonid Brezhnev stripped us of our citizenship in 1978, we were obliterated," Rostropovich recalled in a 1997 interview in Strad magazine. "Russia was in my heart -- in my mind. I suffered because I knew that until the day I died, I would never see Russia or my friends again."

Indeed, he was unable to attend Shostakovich's funeral in 1975.

But in 1989, as the Berlin Wall was being torn down, Rostropovich showed up with his cello and played Bach cello suites amid the rubble. The next year, his Soviet citizenship was restored, and he made a triumphant return to Russia to perform with Washington's National Symphony Orchestra, for which he was music director from 1977 to 1994.

When hard-line Communists tried to overthrow then-President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991, Rostropovich rushed back to Moscow without a visa and spent days in the parliament building to join those protesting the coup attempt.

In his early to mid-70s, he still had the energy of a middle-aged man. He recorded the six Bach solo suites for the first time when he was 70. Five years later, he performed 16 concerts in 11 cities in 28 days, crossing the United States twice and logging about 16,000 kilometers.

Asked by The Associated Press during the 2002 tour about his sleep, he replied: "Normally ... four hours for me [is] absolutely enough."

Finckel recalled that after the release of the Bach recordings, Rostropovich celebrated with a feast at a hotel until 2 a.m., then reserved a meeting room for 4 a.m. in order to practice his cello.

Ever the bon vivant with a big smile and twinkling blue eyes, he was known for his love of women and drink.

"He is a passionate man, and he has a real lust for life, and his marriage is stronger because of it," his daughter Olga said when asked by the Internet Cello Society in 2003 about his love for the five Fs -- "fiddles, food, females, friends and fodka."

"What they have together is very precious, and nothing can destroy it," she said.

Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich was born March 27, 1927, in Baku, in Soviet Azerbaijan. His mother was a pianist. His grandfather and father were cellists. One memorable photo shows him as an infant cradled in his father's cello case. He started playing the piano at age 4 and took up the cello at about 7, later studying at the Moscow Conservatory.

"When I started learning the cello, I fell in love with the instrument because it seemed like a voice -- my voice," Rostropovich told Strad magazine.

He made his public debut as a cellist in 1942 at age 15, and gained wide notice in the West nine years later, when the Soviets sent him to perform at a festival in Florence, Italy. Life magazine reported that the 24-year-old "stirred the audience to warm applause." The New York Times critic said his music was "first class. His tone was big, clean and accurate. ... His musical style seemed to be ardent and intense."

Rostropovich's work for humanity did not stop with the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1991, he and his wife established the Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation to help to improve the health care of children in former Soviet lands.

Rostropovich received numerous awards, including the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1987 and knighthood, conferred on him that year by Queen Elizabeth II on his 60th birthday.

On the cellist's 80th birthday, Rossiiskaya Gazeta published a letter Solzhenitsyn wrote in May 1973 after the author and his wife moved out of Rostropovich's house.

"Once more I repeat to you and Galya my delight at your steadfastness, with which you endured all the oppression connected with me and did not allow me to feel," Solzhenitsyn wrote. "Once again I am grateful for the years of shelter with you, where I survived a time that was very stormy for me, but thanks to the exceptional circumstances, I -- all the same -- wrote without interruption."


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Phlebas
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AlbertaCrude
Apr 27 2007, 07:09 AM
More accurate: Spasibo

I don't think he had a spazzy bow...

:leaving:

RIP Rostropovich. He was a huge inspiration to so many in and out of music.
Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML

The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D


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George K
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Remembering Rostropovich, the Master Teacher

By MICHAEL WHITE
MANCHESTER, England

IT is a truth upheld by many in the music world if not universally acknowledged that pianists are neurotic, violinists vain and cellists ... well, cellists are nice. Straightforward. Sociable. They’ll tell you so themselves.

Whereas other solo-status instrumentalists tend to come together only in competitions, cellists swarm like bees at big international meetings. The Kronberg Festival in Germany is one. And for the last two decades another has been the Manchester International Cello Festival, where Ralph Kirshbaum, the American head of the cello department at the Royal Northern College of Music, has pulled in star players every two of three years to perform, teach, talk and stay up until 3 a.m. comparing Strads, spikes and Piatigorsky stories.

Last weekend the festival was back in business, with Yo-Yo Ma, Mischa Maisky, Colin Carr, Thomas Demenga, Natalia Gutman and some 40 other participants jostling like angels on a pinhead in endurance concerts that began at 7 and ran till after midnight. Students, amateurs and aficionados packed the halls. Good times were had.

But there was a ghost at this feast, benign but insistent. It was the ghost of Mstislav Rostropovich, who had planned to be in Manchester too but died the week before.

From the beginning Mr. Kirshbaum said he didn’t want the festival to turn into a wake; the scheduled theme was English music, and it wasn’t to be hijacked by this death. But as Mr. Ma said of Mr. Rostropovich in an interview: “There can scarcely be a cellist here, or anywhere, who wasn’t affected by him. He was supreme. He was loved. He was a wake-up call for every one of us. You can’t get away from that.”

And there was scarcely a cellist of distinction here who didn’t claim to be some kind of student of the great man, or a student of a student. Most impressive was the number who had actually participated in his legendary classes in the 1960s at the Moscow and Leningrad conservatories: Ms. Gutman, Mr. Maisky, David Geringas, Karine Georgian, Ivan Monighetti. An elite corps, they were honored here like surviving next of kin.

“It’s true,” Ms. Gutman said. “We were his family. We have lost a father.” And their collective testimony made it clear that, in the words of Mr. Maisky: “He was a great cellist but perhaps an even greater teacher. This was his ultimate gift.”


Click on link at top of post to read it all....
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Radu
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George K
May 14 2007, 06:11 AM

Read it all....

What ?
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The modern media has made cretins out of so many people that they're not interested in reality any more, unless it's reality TV (Jean D'eaux)
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George K
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Radu
May 14 2007, 02:13 AM
George K
May 14 2007, 06:11 AM

Read it all....

What ?

Click on the link at the top of the story. It goes on for several pages. (edited to make that clear)
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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