You just beat me to it, Mary. 

Very sad news, but when you think about his career and legacy, there's no need to be gloomy.  No other cellist has had such a career or left such a discography (as both instrumentalist and conductor).

I only got round to ordering his newly re-issued Shostakovich symphonic survey on Warner yesterday, (those wishing to follow suit might like to consider contacting Europadisc, who are promoting the set at the moment). A great human being all round.

Very sad to hear he is no longer with us. I am just grateful to have been around at the same time as he was and, along with millions of others, to have been able to share in what he gave so generously. A great and inspiring man and musician.  

I completely endorse Swan-Knight's sentiments here - we should rather remember his enormous contribution to music, and I am sure that's what he himself would have wanted.  Although we primarily think of Rostropovich as a 'cellist, he was an equally talented pianist and conductor.  He championed new work and commissioned a vast number of new pieces from composers himself.  He remained a patriot, despite the indignity of being stripped of his citizenship in the infamous incident - even before a new independent Russia had been formed,  Rostropovich was on a plane to Moscow.  When he got to the border, they asked him for his passport, and he replied "I haven't got a passport - you see, I'm Rostropovich".  It speaks volumes for him that he was allowed in on that basis.

I think his character appears best through an anecdote, told to me by Svetlana Rossiyskaya, who sang "Sonetka" in Rostro's production of LADY MAC at the Teatro Colon....  (you need to remember how the opera ends - Katerina drags Sonetka into the freezing river Irtysh at the Penal Colony to drown)

"The orchestra was placed at the back of the stage behind the scenery, and we could only see Rostropovich on the tv monitors in the wings and concealed in the rear of the scenery.  This was all done for one final effect - so that at the end, the soprano and I would fall into the orchestra pit,  which had been emptied entirely, except for a pile of mattresses to catch us.  Of course we rehearsed how it would happen in the rehearsal studio, but it was only at the Dress Rehearsal that we did it for real.  The pit was completely black, and with the lights in your face, you can't see a thing - it was like jumping into a bottomless black mineshaft.  We got closer and closer to the edge of the pit - I was terrified, and the soprano was paralysed with fear.  Then I looked into the wings, and I saw Rostro's face on the tv-monitor, and he was mouthing the words "Jump! Jump! For ****'s sake, Jump!".   Well, it was Rostropovich,  so I grabbed the soprano and we jumped, of course."

There is surely little to add that has not already been written here, so all I can really do is endorse all of it wholeheartedly.

The 80th birthday celebrations were barely over by the time this news broke. One thing that I do now wonder about is this: the plentiful literature about Rostropovich in many languages concentrates primarily on his immense legacy as cellist and conductor and most of the rest relates to his piano playing, his many and great collaborations and his life. Very little has so far been written (as far as I am aware) about his music, yet there is a story that Shostakovich had written to Rostropovich's mother (when Rostropovich was probably in his 'teens - I don't have the precise details to hand) urging her to discourage him from too much cello playing as he should concentrate instead on composition; whilst we can all be immensely grateful that the young man did not follow this advice, Shostakovich's remarks had apparently been prompted by looking through Rostropovich's Piano Concerto.

Perhaps we can now hope that, provided that this and other scores by Rostropovich have not been suppressed or destroyed at some time, we can begin to find out something of what it was that so impressed Shostakovich about the young Rostropovich's talents as a composer.

Best,

Alistair

Rest In Peace

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6598895.stm

thompson1780

Saw him just the once, playing the Britten Cello Symphony conducted by the composer, RFH 1970. Plenty more to remember him by, though, particularly in my Shostakovich collection.

Thank you, Slava, R.I.P.