Here’s one of my favorite news clips. It recently fell from between the pages of an old music book of mine. It is of great historical significance. In 1989, (I believe it was), during the collapse of the Berlin wall and liberation of the E. German people, an associated press photographer captured this shot of the great maestro Mstislav Rostropovich giving an impromptu concert. From what I understood no one knew this was going to happen. Maestro drove to the Berlin Wall near Checkpoint Charlie with his cello, sat down and began to play. He played in celebration of the end of what he knew personally as a bad time in history.At that time, Mstislav Rostropovich was a client. Shortly before this occurrence while having lunch with Maestro at his home I asked him a question about his defection from Russia. I simply asked why: “Slava, why did you leave. You where a highly revered artist and considered music royalty. What brought you to the point of knowing you had to go”. His reply was, “I am a musician, an artist. I could not be this living in Russia. Understand, we were not able to play what we wanted to play, only what was allowed”. He explained that during a rehearsal shortly before debuting a new chamber work there was a knock on the door. It was KGB. They barged in and confiscated all the manuscripts he had worked tirelessly on. He asked, “when will I get my music back”? The reply was, “when we say so”. Maestro said to me with very serious and melancholy eyes, “I never saw my music again.”. In 1974 Rostropovich and his wife Gelina Vishnevskaya a world-renowned soprano, were permitted to leave the Soviet Union. In 1975 they announced their defection. In 1977, five years before we met, Rostropovich became the Director of the National Symphonic Orchestra in Washington DC. He is considered one of the greatest Cellist who ever lived. His story is one of artistic genius and pursuit for freedom. It tells of the price some have had to pay to liberate from socialistic control. His is a story not to be forgotten. Maestro Rostropovich left this world in 2007.
