Mstislav Rostropovich Quotes & Sayings

“It is my aim, my destination in life to make the cello as beloved an instrument as the violin and piano.”

“You must play for the love of music. Perfect technique is not as important as making music from the heart.”

“When I started learning the cello, I fell in love with the instrument because it seemed like a voice - my voice.”

“All my life I wanted to play music with love to every member of the audience.”

“I came to Moscow when I was 5 years old from Baku. To walk all night in Moscow will bring back my youth to me.”

“You know creators, composers, need a palette for life, a color for life.”

“Every man must have the right fearlessly to think independently and express his opinion about what he knows, what he has personally thought about and experienced, and not merely to express with slightly different variations the opinion which has been inculcated in him.”

“Now I come to 75 years of age, I think what's most important in life is your conscience. If you told a lie and made other people suffer, I think that's very difficult when you reach this age.”

“The cello is a hero because of its register - its tenor voice. It is a masculine instrument, whereas the violin is feminine because of its soprano pitch. When the cello enters in the Dvorak Concerto, it is like a great orator.”

“In 1948 the first severe crash occurred in my life when Stalin put out his decree on 'formalism.' There was a bulletin board in the Moscow Conservatory. They posted the decree, which said Shostakovich's compositions and Prokofiev's were no longer to be played.”