Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich "Slava" Rostropovichwas a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered to be one of the great cellists of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since. He gave the premieres of over 100 pieces, forming long-standing friendships and artistic partnerships with composers including Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutosławski,...
NationalityRussian
ProfessionCellist
Date of Birth27 March 1927
CountryRussian Federation
You must play for the love of music. Perfect technique is not as important as making music from the heart.
When I started learning the cello, I fell in love with the instrument because it seemed like a voice - my voice.
The artist must forget the audience, forget the critics, forget the technique, forget everything but love for the music. Then, the music speaks through the performance, and the performer and the listener will walk together with the soul of the composer, and with God.
The cello is a hero because of its register - its tenor voice. It is a masculine instrument, whereas the violin is feminine because of its soprano pitch. When the cello enters in the Dvorak Concerto, it is like a great orator.
I would rather have ideas and some difficulties of technique than a perfect technique and no ideas.
All my life I wanted to play music with love to every member of the audience.
There is too much emphasis on technical perfection nowadays, and not enough on what music is actually about - irony, joy, human suffering, love.
I never studied, but I had the best teachers,
It is my aim, my destination in life to make the cello as beloved an instrument as the violin and piano.
You know creators, composers, need a palette for life, a color for life.
I came to Moscow when I was 5 years old from Baku. To walk all night in Moscow will bring back my youth to me.
In 1948 the first severe crash occurred in my life when Stalin put out his decree on formalism. There was a bulletin board in the Moscow Conservatory. They posted the decree, which said Shostakovichs compositions and Prokofievs were no longer to be played.
Now I want to use money in a good way. I make foundations back home in Russia, I have sponsored vaccinations for more than one million children in my homeland and I have founded scholarships in the names of my great Russian compatriots - Oistrakh, Richter, Gilels, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Schnittke.
I played with the best conductors of the world.