It is the measure of the
greatness of the man that modern day composers are inspired
to write and dedicate their works to him - indeed to many
of them, Rostropovich is not only mentor but muse. He inspires
them by example to be sure - through his virtuoso playing,
his masterful conducting and his charismatic personality -
but he also does a virtuoso job of directly encouraging and
supporting them at various stages of their creative lives,
commissioning their works and playing them before international
audiences, and more recently becoming the patron of a major
new composers' competition. Indeed he is a godsend to today's
composers, yet one can only be touched by what he has to say,
rather self-effacingly, about his camaraderie with these contemporary
composers whose works he has had to learn: "My happiest
moments are when I feel I am somebody's student again. That's
a gift from the gods." Not surprisingly, Rostropovich
is also an inspiration to many younger performers. The renowned
Yo-yo Ma reveres him as do his many young proteges and the
chamber music players honored to have performed or recorded
with him. To composers and performers alike Rostropovich will
always be a musical hero.
THE
CELLIST
Of his greatness as
an artist, there can be no question.
One only has to listen to him - live or on record -
to affirm what many firmly believe, that he is the world's
greatest living cellist. Be it Bach's cello suites or
his beloved Shostakovich's concertos, Rostropovich caresses
the cello with his bow like no other. A true virtuoso,
he can coax the cello to produce the most mellifluous
or the most melancholic of sounds, or jolt it to produce
the most jarring. Not one to upstage the music with
grand gestures, he plays with great authority yet always
makes one feel he's playing from the heart.
If Pablo Casals, the greatest cellist of his time, gave
the then obscure cello star billing on the world stage,
Mstislav Rostropovich enhanced this legacy by vastly
expanding and enriching the cello repertory. He has
recorded nearly all known cello works and is constantly
discovering or introducing new ones. He hopes to premier
100 cello concertos before he retires.
One could say
that Mstislav Rostropovich was born with music in his blood.
He was born on March 27th 1927 in the city of Baku on the
west shore of the Caspian Sea. His mother was an accomplished
pianist and his father a distinguished cellist who had studied
with Pablo Casals. He played his first cello concert at the
age of thirteen under his father's direction. At sixteen he
entered the Moscow Conservatory where he studied composition
with the great Russian composers Prokofiev and Shostakovich.
Instant fame came in 1945 when he won the gold medal in the
first ever Soviet Union competition for young musicians, propelling
him to center stage of Soviet cultural life. With fame came
an unending string of recording engagements and foreign tours..
He first visited the United States in 1956 and in the following
decades actively promoted Soviet-American cultural exchange
together with the other preeminent Russian musicians of all
time, violinist David Oistrakh and pianist Sviatoslav
Richter.
THE PIANIST
It is not as well known today that Rostropovich the cellist
is also an accomplished pianist, though it is a role he played
in a supporting capacity as accompanist to his wife, the renowned
Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. Together in recital they
toured the globe and made many recordings, he as conductor
or accompanist, and she as recitalist or lead soprano of operatic
performances. Their recording of Tchaikovsky's beloved opera
Eugene Onegin has been described as electric.
THE MAESTRO
Rostropovich the Maestro began his conducting career in the
Soviet Union in 1968. He made his debut as conductor in the
United States in 1975. Then in 1977, he became the Music Director
of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC, a post
he held until 1996 when he turned over the podium to Leonard
Slatkin (of St. Louis Symphony fame). In making the orchestra
his own, he transformed it into one of the country's finest,
one well worthy of its name. The Maestro continues to wield
the baton, guest-conducting with the great orchestras of the
world. He recently made his subscription-concert-conducting
debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a programme of
Prokokiev and Shostakovich symphonies. It is not surprising
that he is reputed to be the leading interpreter of these
Russian composers, not only were they his fellow countrymen-
to him they were both mentor and friend. The British composer
Benjamin Britten was also a close personal friend. It is to
these special friendships that he traces the great love of
composers that drives him to seek out comtemporary composers
and to seek audiences for their works.
Background
music clip is from Ludwig von Beethoven, Sonata No. 2 in G
minor, Op. 5 No.2, for Cello and Piano, Mstislav Rostropovich
(cello), Sviatoslav Richter (piano) (1963, 1967); Beethoven:
Complete Music for Cello and Piano; Philips D206206 (442
566-2), Philips Classics Productions 1994.
