Cello was my first instrument.  And when I was learning it – especially later in high school and college, when I was the most serious in pursuing the instrument – Msistlav Rostropovich was one of the titans of the instrument that I looked up to, much like I did Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan and eventually Richard Thompson on the guitar; the guy who set the level everyone else had to aspire to.

Mstislav Rostropovich, the legendary Russian cellist and conductor whose molten intensity, interpretive imagination, and technical brilliance won him critical acclaim and widespread audience adoration as well as close friendships with three of the era’s great composers, died early this morning. The Russian press reported that he died in a Moscow cancer hospital. He was 80 years old.

Mr. Rostropovich was recognized as one of the great string players of the modern era and the last of the celebrated mid-century Soviet titans, who included the violinist David Oistrakh and the pianist Sviatoslav Richter.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Saturday, April 28th, 2007 at 5:39 am and is filed under Memoriam. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.