The cellist Mstislav Rostropovich died today at the age of 80.
Yep - sad, although he made it to a respectable 80 years before going. Fond farewell to Rosty, friend of Shosty, and the classical musician voted “most likely to resemble Dick Cheney.”
Many people I know didn’t like the sound of his playing - kind of wiry and sometimes out of tune. But for me, he almost always had the goods…very dramatic and straight to the heart.
I met Rostropovich at my Masters degree graduation ceremony, along with the composer Henryk Górecki. I remember marvelling at the time at the combined life experiences of those two men. But we can’t all shelter Soviet dissidents in our homes now, can we. 
Rostropovich is no Oistrakh.
What the shit kind of comment is that trunk.
RIP Rosty, I was hoping to see him conduct Shostakovich 1 and Tchaik 6 with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra next year 
I also use use his recordings as reference when working on the Bach Cello Suites on marimba. 
And Oistrakh is no Rostropovich (on the cello, anyway). Personally, I always liked Rostropovich’s playing. And he seemed like a humane guy, too.
80’s a good age, but aren’t conductors supposed to live longer?
And neither of them is any Heifetz.
He only missed out on imitating the Prokofiev/Stalin irony by a few days…
Sad. I’m pretty useless at thinking of more to say in these situations.