Long before the world heard of Yo-Yo Ma or Ofra Harnoy, there were only two groups of cello players: Mstislav Rostropovich; and everyone else who played the cello. He was so good some of the 20th century's greatest composers wrote music specifically for him. More than a musician, he was also a conductor; and an advocate for human rights daring to stand up to the Soviet Union for its censorship of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. For this and other "outrages" such as condemning the suppression of the Prague Spring, he was exiled for years to the West where he loaned his talents to orchestras in such cities as Washington and London.
Even people who didn't hear a single note of classical music usually knew who he was when the name was dropped, which explains the power and influence he had on the music business. Rostropovich died today at the age of 80. To say a huge hole has to be filled is the biggest understatement. It's the footprint and the good feelings that he created -- rarely if ever a critical word for him -- that put him in the pantheon that very few on the so-called "A-list" in Hollywood deserves to be in.
In that sense he leaves a far greater legacy artistically than say ... Anna Nicole Smith.
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