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Mstislav Rostropovich
Did you mean: Mstislav Rostropovich (Russian musician), Mstislav Rostropovich (Actor, Director, Music), Mstislav Rostropovich (Classical Artist)
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| Music Encyclopedia: Mstislav (Leopoldovich) Rostropovich |
(b Baku, 27 March 1927). Russian cellist, pianist and conductor. He studied at Moscow Conservatory and became cello professor there in 1956, the year of his London and New York débuts. He introduced Shostakovich's First Concerto to London in 1960 and began an association with Britten, who wrote the Cello Sonata, suites and the Cello Symphony for him. He is often heard as piano accompanist to his wife, Galina Vishnevskaya, they left the USSR in 1974 and lost their citizenship in 1978. In 1977 he became music director of the National SO, Washington dc. He returned to Russia in 1994. As a cellist Rostropovich is noted for his commanding technique and intense, visionary playing; as a conductor his style is free and flexible.
| Biography: Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich |
"A thorough going Romantic" describes the musicality of Russian-born Mstislav (Slava) Leopoldovich Rostropovich (born 1927). While also active as a pianist and composer, he achieved international renown as a cellist and conductor.
Mstislav Rostropovich was born in Baku, the capital of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, on March 27, 1927. The family was musical, his father being a professional cellist, his mother an accomplished pianist, and his sister a violinist with the Moscow Philharmonic. Rostropovich received his first lessons on both the cello and piano from his parents while quite young and, when the family moved to Moscow, he attended the Gnesin Institute where his father taught.
In 1943 he entered the Moscow Conservatory, studying with Semyon Kozolupov (cello) and Dmitri Shostakovich and Vissaryon Shebalin (composition), among others. He graduated with the highest distinction.
Rostropovich had won competitions for his cello playing in Moscow, Prague, and Budapest by the late 1940s. In 1956 he received a post as cello professoshipr at the Moscow Conservatory. By now an international career was well established, documented by numerous prizes and tours of Europe and the United States. His American debut took place at Carnegie Hall, New York, in April 1956. During the same period he met his future wife, Galina Vishnevskaya, then a soprano with the Bolshoi Opera. He occasionally served as her piano accompanist in song recitals. Their two daughters are both musicians.
Rostropovich brought to his performances a complete command of the cello and a display of emotional intensity that were at once apparent to the audience. His technique maintained both accuracy of pitch and fullness of tone through the entire range of the instrument, and he excelled in producing a wide variety of tone colors. Flaws in his playing were more often of a musical, rather than technical, nature, such as his occasional tendency to overplay and his lapses in phrasing continuity. His repertoire extended from Bach to the moderns, several of whom wrote works for him. The list includes Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Penderecki, Lutoslawski, and Britten.
Beginning in 1975 Rostropovich played a cello, the "Duport," created by Antonio Stradivari in 1711. The instrument was in perfect condition except for a mark on its lower body, said to have been put there by Napoleon who, after hearing Duport play, asked to examine the instrument and accidentally bumped it with his spur.
Although Rostropovich had been interested in conducting since childhood, his career in this art did not pick up until after 1968, when he made his debut at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow with Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. He credited much of his ability to the observations he was able to make while performing as a soloist under various conductors. While he once made the statement that "no performer's identity is as important as the composer's," he was criticized for exaggerated and sometimes sentimental interpretations, tendencies also found in his cello playing. He was therefore most comfortable with music where these qualities are more appropriate - emotional works of the Romantic and Post-Romantic periods. He had, though, surprising success with some of the more "difficult" moderns, including Penderecki, Lutoslawski, and C. Halffter.
A defender of personal freedoms, Rostropovich ran afoul of the Soviet State for coming to the aid of his friend Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was refused admittance into Moscow after the publication in the West of The First Circle and Cancer Ward. Rostropovich first allowed the writer to stay with him for an extended period and then, when Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970 and was still not allowed to publish in Russia, wrote a letter to the press on his friend's behalf. The letter, which attacked Soviet censorship of the arts, the suppression of human rights, and the incompetence of those in administrative positions in the arts, remained unpublished in Russia but was picked up by foreign presses. Then began an official harassment of the careers of both Rostropovich and his wife. Their passports were confiscated and all tours outside the country canceled. At home they were limited to lesser engagements in remote places and when performances were broadcast their names were removed from the list of credits. A letter from Rostropovich to Brezhnev went unanswered. Finally, the intercession of several prominent people in the United States, including Leonard Bernstein and Senator Edward Kennedy, persuaded officials to allow Rostropovich and his family a two-year absence from the country during which they would be based in Britain. Both he and his wife were stripped of their Soviet citizenship in March 1978.
A successful concert he had given in Washington, D.C., with the National Symphony Orchestra led to a post as music director with that orchestra beginning in 1977. He was also a regular guest conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for several years and it was with this orchestra that he made the first recording of Shostakovich's opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, his wife singing the role of Katerina. While with the London Philharmonic Orchestra he recorded the complete symphonies of Tchaikovsky, a composer he regarded more highly than do most musicians.
When he heard of the right-wing coup in the U.S.S.R. on August 19, 1991, Rostropovich flew immediately to Moscow. Continuing his dedication to freedom, he spent the next three days in the Russian parliament building while the coup collapsed around him. He called this time "the best days of my life." Those types of days became even more frequent. In May, 1997, wrapped in an emotional visit to his native Azerbaijan he offered his music or even his life to prevent new fighting in the region. During his five-day stay he offered to play for the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan for as long as it took to settle the long dispute over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Leaving for Moscow, he said, "If there is a new outbreak of hostilities in the conflict zone, I will go there, stand between the forces and say: Better kill me."
Although not originally known as a composer, Rostropovich retained an active interest in writing music throughout his career. He dismissed his student works as "bad imitations of Prokofiev," but occasionally included some later pieces in his own cello recitals. His compositions include two piano concertos, a work for a string quartet, various piano and cello pieces, and a satirical cantata.
His composing career has given him several widely acclaimed distinctions. In June, 1994, he conducted his last subscription concert as music director at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The program, Verdi Requiem, more or less personified its leader: big, impassioned and extroverted and topped off his 17 seasons as the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra.
In October, 1995, he returned to Russia to fight for a new cause-the costly and controversial reconstruction of Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral. It was said, that hundreds of wealthy and well-dressed Russians paid $1,000 apiece to hear Rostropovich conduct and play cello in the Moscow Conservatory.
April, 1997 gave Rostropovich the distinction of being the last conductor to play the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hall before the $105 million renovation and expansion transformed the Orchestra Hall into Symphony Center.
Rostropovich did not give up his cello. In March of 1997, he, at age 70, played works by Marcello, Beethoven, Bach, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich at the music festival in Monaco, dedicated to the memory of Princess Grace.
Among his numerous awards and distinctions were the Stalin Prize (1951); the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society, London (1970); honorary doctorates from Harvard (1974) and Cambridge (1975) universities; Officer of the French Légion d'honneur (1982); the Anti-Defamation League Award (1985); and was made an honorary knight in 1987.
Further Reading
As Rostropovich divided his career between the cello and conducting, so the curious reader must consult different sources for either branch of his activities. The monthly periodical The Strad followed his life as a cellist very closely, scarcely an issue being without some mention of him. The Washington Post contained updates on his conducting engagements with the National Symphony Orchestra. This newspaper is indexed separately as well as in the National Newspaper Index, the latter being perhaps the more current. Helena Matheopoulos devoted a chapter to Rostropovich the conductor in her book Maestro: Encounters with Conductors of Today (1982). Rostropovich himself described the harassment of his and his wife's careers in an article in the New York Times (March 6, 1975). See also Chicago Tribune, "Grand Finale," 04/26/97; "CSO Announces 1996-97 Schedule," 02/09/96; "Famed Conductor Performs For Cathedral In Moscow," 10/23/95; "Verdi Requiem Is Swan Song For Rostropovich," 06/17/94. New York Times "Music Festival In Monaco," March 16, 1997. LA Times "World in Brief, Azerbaijan, Rostropovich Offers Music, Life for Peace," May 4, 1997.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Mstislav Rostropovich |
Rostropovich, Mstislav (mĭs'tĭsläv' rŏs'trəpô'vyĭch), 1927-2007, Russian cellist, pianist, and conductor. He made his cello debut in 1940 and his conducting debut in 1968, toured with the Moscow Philharmonic, and taught at the Moscow Conservatory until his friendship with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his support for Soviet dissidents brought him into official disfavor in the early 1970s. Banned from many musical outlets, Rostropovich, his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, and their children left the Soviet Union in 1974 and settled in the United States the following year. From 1977 to 1994 he served as the musical director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington, D.C. He was stripped of his Soviet citizenship in 1978, but it was restored in 1990, and that year he again performed (with the National Symphony) in his motherland. After 1991, when he flew to Moscow to support Yeltsin during the August Coup, he lived in Russia, the United States, and France.
| Artist: Mstislav Rostropovich |
- Period: Contemporary (1950- )
- Country: Russia/USA
- Born: March 27, 1927 in Baku, Azerbaijan
- Died: April 27, 2007 in Moscow, Russia
Biography
Mstislav Rostropovich was one of the great cellists, and one of the leading conductors, of his time. His performances in both arenas were characterized by a direct and strongly emotional style, and the often turbulent events of his life, including exile from his native Soviet Union, often resonated with his music making. His father, Leopold, was an acclaimed cellist and his mother was a professional pianist. In 1931, the family returned to Moscow, where Leopold taught at the Gnesin Institute. Taught by his father from the age of three, "Slava" gave his first recital at eight. He entered the Central Music School in 1939, remaining until 1941. In 1943 he entered the Moscow Conservatory. He studied cello with Semyon Kozolupov and composition with Vissarion Shebalin and Dmitri Shostakovich. He became a musical secretary to composer Sergei Prokofiev, and helped persuade the composer to rewrite his failed cello concerto in E minor as the Symphony-Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 125, one of the major masterpieces for the instrument.Rostropovich won the International Competition for Cellists in Prague in 1950, and began to concertize throughout Russia. His first appearance in the West was in Florence in 1951. He married Galina Vishnevskaya, the star soprano of the Bol'shoi Opera. The couple found themselves at odds with the authorities for the first time, since she was then being amorously pursued by Soviet President Nikolai Bulganin, who canceled their long-planned 1956 tour of the West. But Bulganin was losing power to Party Secretary Khrushchev, and the tour was reinstated, allowing Rostropovich to debut in London at the Festival Hall in March and at Carnegie Hall in New York in April. He was immediately hailed as a great international star.
Returning to the U.S.S.R., Rostropovich found composers clamoring to write for him. The greatest of them, Shostakovich, wrote both his cello concertos for him. When the cellist brought the first concerto to the West for the first time, he premiered it on LP in a magnificent recording with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, beginning a great discography of Western recordings. On the same tour, English composer Benjamin Britten attended the London premiere of the concerto, initiating another great musical friendship with Rostropovich that led to Britten writing five masterpieces for the cello (three solo suites, a sonata, and the Cello Symphony), and a song cycle for Galina.
In 1969, Rostropovich protested official mistreatment of the writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn in a letter that circulated in the West, embarrassing Soviet officials. Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya saw their scheduled concerts suddenly cancelled, and the soprano was expelled from the Bol'shoi roster. In 1974 the government granted their request to visit the West for two years, then exiled them by revoking their Soviet citizenship. Rostropovich became invisible at home, but a major star in the West. He bought the famous "Duport" Stradivarius. In September he made a London conducting debut with the New Philharmonic Orchestra and in March debuted with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. He was appointed its music director in 1977.
In 1990 Soviet President Gorbachev reversed the Rostropovich's expulsion, resulting in an emotional return documented in the film "Soldiers of Music." When Russian President Boris Yeltsin stood up to Soviet military power, Rostropovich rushed to stand beside him in the events that led to the collapse of Soviet power. He then stepped down from leadership of the Washington orchestra, but appeared as cellist and conductor around the world. He made his first recordings of Bach's six cello suites in 1991, the result of a lifetime of study. He was a major force in inspiring new cello works from the great composers of his time. ~ Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide
Discography
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| Wikipedia: Mstislav Rostropovich |
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich KBE (Russian: Мстисла́в Леопо́льдович Ростропо́вич, Mstislav Leopol'dovič Rostropovič, pronounced [rəstrɐˈpɔvʲɪtɕ]) (March 27, 1927 – April 27, 2007), known to close friends as “Slava,” was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century, and is considered by some of his peers to have been the greatest cellist of all time. In addition to his outstanding interpretations and technique, he was well-known for his commissions of new works which enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since. He gave the premieres of over 100 pieces.[1]
He was also internationally recognised as a staunch advocate of human rights, being awarded in 1974 the Annual Award of the International League of Human Rights.
Contents |
Biography
Early years
Rostropovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR, to ethnic Russian parents who moved there from Orenburg.[2] His father, Leopold Vitoldovich Rostropovich, was also partly of Belarusian-Polish noble descent.[3] That part of his family bore the Bogorya coat of arms, which was located at the family palace in Skotniki, Masovian Voivodeship. He grew up in Baku and spent his youth there. During World War II his family moved back to Orenburg and then in 1943 to Moscow.[4]
At age of four Rostropovich learned the piano with his mother, Sofiya Nikolaevna Fedotova, a talented pianist. He started the cello at the age of 10 with his father, who was also a renowned cellist and former student of Pablo Casals.[5]
In 1943, at the age of 16, he entered the Moscow Conservatory. He studied not only the cello and piano, but also conducting and composition, until 1948. Among his teachers were Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev. In 1945 he came to prominence as a cellist when he won the gold medal in the first ever Soviet Union competition for young musicians.[5] He became professor of cello at the Moscow Conservatory in 1956.
First concerts
Rostropovich gave his first cello concert in 1942. He won first prize at the international Music Awards of Prague and Budapest in 1947, 1949, and 1950. In 1950, at the age of 23 he was awarded what was then considered the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, the Stalin Prize.[6] At that time, Rostropovich was already well known in his country and while actively pursuing his solo career, he taught at the Leningrad (Saint-Petersburg) Conservatory and the Moscow Conservatory. In 1955, he married Galina Vishnevskaya, soprano at the Bolshoi Theatre.[7]
Rostropovich had working relationships with Soviet composers of the era. In 1949 Prokofiev wrote his Cello Sonata in C, Op. 119, for the 22-year old Rostropovich, who gave the first performance in 1950, with Sviatoslav Richter. Prokofiev also dedicated his Sinfonia Concertante for cello to him; this was premiered in 1952. Rostropovich and Dmitri Kabalevsky completed Prokofiev's Cello Concertino after the composer's death. Dmitri Shostakovich wrote both his first and second cello concertos for Rostropovich, who also gave their first performances.
His international career started in 1963 in the Conservatoire of Liège (with Kirill Kondrashin) and in 1964 in West Germany. Rostropovich went on several tours in Western Europe and met several composers, including Benjamin Britten. Britten dedicated his Cello Sonata, three Solo Suites, and his Cello Symphony to Rostropovich, who gave their first performances. In 1967, he conducted Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin at the Bolshoi, thus letting forth his passion for both the role of conductor and the opera.
Proms on 21 August 1968
Rostropovich played at the London Proms on the night of August 21, 1968. He played with the Soviet State Symphony Orchestra and it was the orchestra's debut performance at the Proms. The programme featured Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto and was the same day that Russians invaded Czechoslovakia to put an end to Alexander Dubcek's Prague Spring. It was reported that he was crying as he performed.[8]
Exile
Rostropovich fought for art without borders, freedom of speech, and democratic values, resulting in harassment from the Soviet regime. An early example was in 1948, when he was a student at the Moscow Conservatory. In response to the 10 February, 1948 decree on so-called 'formalist' composers, his teacher Dmitri Shostakovich was dismissed from his professorships in Leningrad and Moscow; the then 21-year-old Rostropovich quit the Conservatory, dropping out in protest. In 1970, Rostropovich sheltered Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who otherwise had nowhere else to go, in his own home. His friendship with Solzhenitsyn and his support for dissidents led to official disgrace in the early 1970s. As a result, Rostropovich was restricted from foreign touring, as was his wife, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, and he was sent on a recital tour of small towns in Siberia.
Rostropovich left the Soviet Union in 1974 with his wife and children and settled in the United States. He was banned from several musical ensembles in his homeland, and his Soviet citizenship was revoked in 1978 because of his public opposition to the Soviet Union's restriction of cultural freedom. He returned to Russia in 1990.[6]
Further career
From 1977 until 1994, he was musical director and conductor of the U.S. National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, while still performing with some of the most famous musicians such as Martha Argerich, Sviatoslav Richter and Vladimir Horowitz.[9] He was also the director and founder of the Rostropovich Music Festival and was a regular performer at the Aldeburgh Festival in the UK.[10]
His impromptu performance during the fall of the Berlin Wall as events unfolded earned him international fame and was reported throughout the world.[11] His Russian citizenship was restored in 1990, although he and his family had already become American citizens.
In modern Russia, Rostropovich was welcomed by high officials. He supported Boris Yeltsin during the 1993 constitutional crisis (Rostropovich conducted the National Symphony Orchestra in Red Square at the height of the crackdown),[12] and was also on friendly terms with Vladimir Putin.
Rostropovich received many international awards, including the French Legion of Honor and honorary doctorates from many international universities. He was an activist, fighting for freedom of expression in art and politics. An ambassador for the UNESCO, he supported many educational and cultural projects.[13] Rostropovich performed several times in Madrid and was a close friend of Queen Sofía of Spain.
Rostropovich and his wife, Galina Vishnevskaya, started a foundation to stimulate social projects and activities. The couple funded a vaccination program in Azerbaijan. The Rostropovich Home Museum opened on March 4, 2002, in Baku.[14] Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya visited Azerbaijan occasionally. Rostropovich also presented cello master classes at the Azerbaijan State Conservatory.
Together they formed a valuable art collection. In September 2007, when it was slated to be sold at auction by Sotheby's in London and dispersed, Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov stepped forward and negotiated the purchase of all 450 lots, in order to keep the collection together and bring it to Russia as a memorial to the great cellist's memory. Christie's reported that the buyer paid a "substantially higher" sum than the £20 million pre-sale estimate[15]
In 2006, he was featured in Alexander Sokurov's documentary Elegy of a life: Rostropovich, Vishnevskaya.
His instruments included the Duport Stradivarius of 1711, a Storioni on which he made most of his recordings and a Peter Guarneri of Venice.
Illness and death
Rostropovich's health declined in 2006, with the Chicago Tribune reporting rumors of unspecified surgery in Geneva and later treatment for what was reported as an aggravated ulcer. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Rostropovich to discuss details of a celebration the Kremlin was planning for March 27, 2007, Rostropovich's 80th birthday. Rostropovich attended the celebration but was reportedly in frail health.
Though Rostropovich's last home was in Paris, he maintained residences in Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Lausanne, and Jordanville, New York. Rostropovich was admitted to a Paris hospital at the end of January 2007, but then decided to fly to Moscow, where he had been receiving care.[16] On February 6, 2007 the 79-year-old Rostropovich was admitted to a hospital in Moscow. "He is just feeling unwell", Natalya Dolezhale, Rostropovich's secretary in Moscow, said. Asked if there was serious cause for concern about his health she said: "No, right now there is no cause whatsoever." She refused to specify the nature of his illness. The Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin had visited the musician on Monday in the hospital, which prompted speculation that he was in a serious condition. Dolezhale said the visit was to discuss arrangements for marking Rostropovich's 80th birthday. On March 27, 2007, the Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a statement praising Rostropovich [17].
He re-entered the Blokhim Cancer Institute on April 7, 2007, where he was treated for intestinal cancer. He died on April 27, 2007.[11][18][19]
On April 28, Rostropovich's body lay in an open coffin at the Moscow Conservatory[20], where he once studied as a teenager, and was then moved to the Church of Christ the Saviour. Thousands of mourners, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, bade farewell. Spain's Queen Sofia, French first lady Bernadette Chirac and President Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan, where Rostropovich was born, as well as Naina Yeltsina, the widow of Boris Yeltsin, were among those in attendance at the funeral on April 29. Rostropovich was then buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery, the same cemetery where his friend Boris Yeltsin was buried four days earlier.[21]
Stature
Rostropovich was a huge influence on the younger generation of cellists, such as Jamie Walton. Many have openly acknowledged their debt to his example. In the Daily Telegraph, Julian Lloyd Webber called him "probably the greatest cellist of all time."[22]
Rostropovich either commissioned or was the recipient of compositions by many composers including Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Benjamin Britten, Henri Dutilleux, Leonard Bernstein, Alfred Schnittke, Aram Khachaturian, Ástor Piazzolla, Olivier Messiaen, Witold Lutosławski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Sofia Gubaidulina, Arthur Bliss and Lopes Graça. His commissions of new works enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since.
He debuted 117 pieces.[1]
He is well known for his interpretations of Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor and Haydn's cello concertos in C and D[citation needed], Prokofiev's Symphony-Concerto and the two cello concertos of Shostakovich.
Awards and recognitions
Rostropovich received about 50 awards during his life, including:
- Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance (1984)
- Mstislav Rostropovich & Rudolf Serkin for Brahms: Sonata for Cello and Piano in E Minor, Op. 38 and Sonata in F, Op. 99
- Polar Music Prize, 1995
- Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society (1970)
- Sonning Award (1981; Denmark)
- Citizen of Honor of Orenburg, Russia (1993)
- Honor Award of the Republic of Azerbaijan
- Honorary KBE from Queen Elizabeth II in 1987
- In 1987, Rostropovich was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.
- Prince of Asturias Awards, 1997 (jointly with Yehudi Menuhin)
- Citizen of honor of Vilnius, Lithuania (2000)
- Order of Service to the Fatherland, First Degree, for his "outstanding contribution to the development of world music and many years of creative activity," presented by President Vladimir Putin, 02/26/2007.
- Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands awarded him the rare Medal for Art and Science (Dutch: "Eremedaille voor Kunst en Wetenschap") of the House-Order of Orange.
- Laurea ad honorem at the University of Bologna in Political Science, 2006.
- He was a recipient of Yale University's Sanford Medal.[23]
- Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music, London.[24]
References
- ^ a b Olga Sobolevskaya (27 April 2007). "Mstislav Rostropovich: musician of genius, man of honor". RIA Novosti. http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20070427/64560235.html. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ Valentin Shutilova (16 May 2007). "Азиопа. Часть вторая. Дом - музей семьи Ростроповичей в Оренбурге" (in Russian). Svali.ru. http://www.svali.ru/print_story.php?st_id=1105. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
- ^ Michael Birukoff. "Rostropovich Family Name" (in Russian). All Russia Family Tree. http://www.vgd.ru/R/rostpchn.htm#%F2%CF%D3%D4%D2%CF%D0%CF%D7%C9%DE. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ "Mstislav Rostropovich: Obituary". The Times. 28 April 2007. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1717247.ece. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
- ^ a b "Mstislav Rostropovich biography". Sony Classical. http://www.sonyclassical.com/artists/rostropovich/bio.html. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ a b "Mirė maestro M.Rostropovičius" (in Lithuanian). Lietuvos rytas. 28 April 2007. http://www.lrytas.lt/?id=11776666481176558153&view=4. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ "Biography of Mstislav Rostropovitch". UNESCO. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=9925&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ "For One Night Only - The Prom of Peace". BBC Radio 4. 1 September 2007. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/foronenightonly/pip/jqmqo/. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica (27 April 2007). "National Symphony Orchestra". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9002382/National-Symphony-Orchestra. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ Rostropovich remembered – Britten-Pears Foundation, Undated.Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
- ^ a b "Russian maestro Rostropovich dies". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6598895.stm. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ Steven Erlanger (September 27, 1993). "Isolated Foes of Yeltsin Are Sad but Still Defiant". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEEDF1039F934A1575AC0A965958260. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
- ^ "UNESCO Celebrity Advocates: Mstislav Rostropovitch". UNESCO. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=8327&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ Gulnar Aydamirova (Summer 2003). "Rostropovich The Home Museum". Azerbaijan International. http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai112_folder/112_articles/112_rostropovich.html. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ BBC News, "Billionaire buys entire auction", 17 September 2007.
- ^ Alan Kozinn (April 27, 2007). "Mstislav Rostropovich, Cellist and Conductor, Dies". New York Times.
- ^ "Russian President Marks World-renowned Musician's 80th Birthday". VOA News (Voice of America). 27 March 2007. http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-03/2007-03-27-voa53.cfm. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
- ^ "Russian Conductor, Composer, Cellist Rostropovich Dies". VOA News (Voice of America). 27 April 2007. http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-04/2007-04-27-voa17.cfm. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
- ^ "Russian cellist Rostropovish 'seriously ill'". Contactmusic. http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/russian%20cellist%20rostropovich%20seriously%20ill_1028951. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ "Russian Musician Rostropovich Honored Before Burial". VOA News (Voice of America). 28 April 2007. http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-04/2007-04-28-voa29.cfm. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
- ^ "Russian farewell to Rostropovich". BBC News. 29 April 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6604875.stm. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ Julian Lloyd Webber (28 April 2007). "The greatest cellist of all time". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/27/nros227.xml. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
- ^ Leading clarinetist to receive Sanford Medal
- ^ "Rostropovich:THE HONORS & AWARDS". http://www.fanfaire.com/rost/rosthon.html. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
Further reading
- "Mstislav Rostropovich : Conductor, Pianist and Outstanding Cellist of the Age for whom Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Britten Composed (obituary)". The Telegraph. 2007-04-28. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/28/db2801.xml.
- Reynolds, Nigel (2007-04-28). "Famed Russian Cellist Loses Cancer Battle". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/27/nros27.xml.
- Lloyd Webber, Julian (2007-04-28). "'The Greatest Cellist of All Time'". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/27/nros227.xml.
External links
- Vishnevskaya-Rostropovich Foundation homepage
- Home-museum of Leopold and Mstislav Rostropovich
- Mstislav Rostropovich: Cellist, Conductor, Humanitarian Cellist Arash Amini shares his personal experiences with Slava, a feature from the Bloomingdale School of Music (October, 2007)
- Why the cello is a hero, interview with the Daily Telegraph
- Interview by Tim Janof
- Famous People: Then and Now article and interview at Azerbaijan International (Winter 1999)
- Intellectual Responsibility. When Silence is Not Golden: Conversations with Mstislav Rostropovich, another Azerbaijan International interview (Summer 2005)
- Hearing Mstislav Rostropovich survey of Rostropovich recordings, by Jens F. Laurson (WETA, May 4, 2007)
- 1987 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Richard Goode & Richard Stoltzman |
Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance 1984 |
Succeeded by Juilliard String Quartet |
| Preceded by Ray Charles and Ravi Shankar |
Polar Music Prize 1995 |
Succeeded by Pierre Boulez and Joni Mitchell |
|
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Did you mean: Mstislav Rostropovich (Russian musician), Mstislav Rostropovich (Actor, Director, Music), Mstislav Rostropovich (Classical Artist)
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 | Placido Domingo with Mstislav Rostropovich: Gala Performance (2004 Music Film) |
| Rostropovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 (Music Film) |
| Rostropovich: Bach - Cello Suites (1991 Music Film) |
 | What instrument did rostropovich use? Read answer... |
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Mentioned in
- Placido Domingo with Mstislav Rostropovich: Gala Performance (2004 Music Film)
- Rostropovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 (Music Film)
- Rostropovich: Bach - Cello Suites (1991 Music Film)
- Elegy of Life: Rostropovich. Vishnevskaya (2006 Music Film)
- Prom at the Palace: The Queen's Concerts, Buckingham Palace (2002 Music Film)
- Rostropovich/Richter: Beethoven - The Cello Sonatas (Music Film)
- Rostropovich: A Night to Remember (Film)
- Cello Concerto (1982 Music Film)
- Haydn: Cello Concertos (Music Film)
- Galina (2007 Film)
- David Finckel (Classical Artist, '70s-2000s)
- Dinner Classics: The Viennese Album (1989 Album by Various Artists)
- Song of the Birds: A Biography of Pablo Casals (1991 Music Film)
- Glenn Gould: Russian Journey (1993 Music Film)
