Mstislav Rostropovich
Biography
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (March 27, 1927 - April 27, 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor.
Rostropovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. His father was a distinguished cellist who had studied with Pablo Casals and his mother was a pianist. From 1943 to 1948, he studied composition with Shostakovich and Prokofiev at the Moscow Conservatory before he became known as a solo cellist when, in 1945, he won the gold medal in the first ever Soviet Union competition for young musicians. He became professor of cello at the Conservatory in 1956.
Rostropovich was known for his opposition to Soviet rule and backing for human rights. Most of his life was lived abroad from the Soviet Union over his support for the banned Nobel prize writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Both Rostropovich and his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, supported Solzhenitsyn, even writing a letter to Brezhnev protesting against Soviet restrictions on cultural freedom in 1970.
Consequently his concerts and recording projects were cancelled. They were granted exit visas in 1974 but in 1978 they were stripped of their Soviet citizenship. His return to the Soviet Union was marked when, as the Berlin Wall came down, he performed a Bach suite.
Music
Rostropovich became known in the West as a result of his time abroad and recorded a large part of the cello literature as well as encouraging and new cello repertoire through his contact to composers such as Benjamin Britten, who wrote his Cello Symphony, his Sonata for Cello and Piano and the three Suites for Solo Cello. Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Boulez, Berio, Khachaturian, Messiaen, Schnittke, Bernstein, Dutilleux and Lutoslawski have also written for Rostropovich.
He was Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington and a regular guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic. Sony Classical recent recordings include Schnittke´s Cello Concerto No. 2 and 'In Memoriam', and 'Return to Russia, an audio and video documentation of Rostropovich´s tour of Russia in 1990 with the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington.
Rostropovich died on April 27, 2007 in Moscow, one month to the day after celebrating his 80th birthday. He died in a Moscow clinic after being hospitalized in February of the same year for intestinal cancer.
Discography
2007 - Album de 80eme Anniversaire
Beethoven - Violin Concerto & Romances
Brahms - Cello Sonata
Brahms - Double Concerto
Dvorak - Symphonies Nos 6 - 9
Play Mozart & Saint-Saens
80th Birthday Edition Album
Mussorgsky - A Night on Bare Mountain
Rostropovich - Early Recordings
Schubert - String Quartet
Tchaikovsky - Symphonies No 1 - 6
Tchaikovsky - Trio For Piano and Strings
Vivaldi, Tartini & Bocherini
2006 - Britten - Symphony for Cello and Orchestra
Dvorak - Cello Concerto
Elgar - Cello Concerto
Haydn - Cello Concerto
2005 - Britten - Cello Symphony
2004 - Britten - Works for Cello
2003 - Bach - Cello Suites
2002 - Shostakovich Symphony No. 11
2001 - Shostakovich Symphony Nos. 1 and 5
2000 - Cello Works - Khachaturian, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky
1999 - My First 79 Years
Great Film Music
1998 - Shostakovich: Violin Concerto, Op.99; Cello Concerto, Op.107
1996 - Lease Breakers
1995 - Telemann, Bach Family: Trio Sonatas
Wieniawski/Bruch/Tchaikovsky: Violin Concertos
1992 - Schnittke: Concerto No. 2 for Cello and Orchestra, In memoriam...for Orchestra
1991 - Concert of the Century: Celebrating the 85th Anniversary of Carnegie Hall
1990 - Mozart, Telemann, J.C. Bach, Reicha: Trios, Quartets
1989 - Music, My Love
1987 - Mozart: The Flute Quartets
1983 - Haydn: London Trios
Rostropovich recorded an extensive number of works. To browse larger collection click here
