AP News, April 27th, 2007
Memorable quotes by and about Mstislav Rostropovich:
"I know that after my letter there will be undoubtedly an 'opinion' about me, but I am not afraid of it. I openly say what I think. Talent, of which we are proud, must not be submitted to the assaults of the past." _ Rostropovich in an open letter to the Soviet media in 1970 after the Kremlin's denunciation of dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
"When Leonid Brezhnev stripped us of our citizenship in 1978, we were obliterated. Russia was in my heart _ in my mind. I suffered because I knew that until the day I died, I would never see Russia or my friends again." _ Rostropovich in a 1997 interview in Strad magazine.
"Art and literature should be judged by the conscience of the creator, his peers in his field and all of the people, not by a separate bureaucracy, artificially compressing the arteries and veins of this life-sustaining circulation." _ Rostropovich testifying at a 1990 Senate hearing on the National Endowment for the Arts.
"When I started learning the cello, I fell in love with the instrument because it seemed like a voice _ my voice." _ Rostropovich in Strad magazine.
"I've never heard the cello played like that. The technique was so fantastic. It was an immensely difficult concerto, and he was like a fish going through the water." _ the late flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal in 1994.
"Slava set the world on fire with the brilliance of his performances and he succeeded over and over again in his unwavering mission to reveal the depth of the human soul." _ cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
"He has a passion for enjoying life in every possible facet, and that comes through in his music. For him making music is like the way he speaks _ freely, openly, abundantly." _ the late violinist Isaac Stern in 1994.
"He was the most inspiring musician that I have ever known. ... He had a way to channel his energy through other people, and it was magical." _ David Finckel, the Emerson String Quartet's cellist who studied with Rostropovich for nine years.
"If I have another life _ a thousand lives _ it (would) be exactly the same." _ Rostropovich in 1994 on whether he had any regrets about his life.
"The passing of Mstislav Rostropovich is a bitter blow to our culture. ... He gave Russian culture worldwide fame. Farewell, beloved friend." _ Solzhenitsyn, commenting to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
