April 27, 2007

  • RIP: Mstislav Rostropovich

    Not much new happening around here, and Monday I'll do the end of month wrap-up.  But today the great Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich died.  He was 80.  The NY Times had a great article about this today so I am not going to reiterate much of that here.

    My first experience hearing Rostropovich was as a cellist in the first Shostakovich cello concerto on LP.  It was the recording that essentially introduced me to that composer's music.  As a conductor, I never felt that Rostropovich came off as well on recordings unless they were culled from live performances.  And from what I have heard his concerts as conductor were powerful experiences.  It will be for his solo recordings I think that his legacy will rightly live on.