Mstislav Rostropovich Quotes

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

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Palette, Composers

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

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Learning, Instrument

• The war years were the most difficult time of my life. There was real famine in Moscow. The water froze inside the houses. There was no heat.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Heat, Famine

• People are craving this great progress in electronics, going after computers, the Internet, etc. It’s a giant progress technologically. But they must have a balance of soul, a balance for human beauty. That means art has an important role.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Giant, Cravings

• 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.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Pitch, Orator

• Of course, I know everything that happens in Russia. But even at the most dangerous moment or the most negative moment now, it’s still 10 times better than what it was in the communist state.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Moment, Communist

• Now I want to use money in a good way. I make foundations back home in Russia, I have sponsored vaccinations for more than one million children in my homeland and I have founded scholarships in the names of my great Russian compatriots – Oistrakh, Richter, Gilels, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Schnittke.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Russian, Foundations

• 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.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Conscience, Reach

• Music is part of history, and our history has lessons that cannot be separated from our greatest music.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Separated, Lessons

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

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Violin, Destination

• 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.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Decree, Compositions

• If I make a speech, I need a translator. But music does not need a translation. People understand me through the sound. That I think is very important. This is just one planet, like one family.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Planet, Translation

• I played with the best conductors of the world.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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• I never studied, but I had the best teachers.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Studied, Teachers

• I listened to Pablo Casals, which was a big change for me. Without hearing Casals, I would never have advanced as I did.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Hearing, Advanced

• I know that after my letter there will be undoubtedly an ‘opinion’ about me, but I am not afraid of it. I openly say what I think. Talent, of which we are proud, must not be submitted to the assaults of the past.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Undoubtedly, Letter

• I like coming to the United States because the United States played an important role in my life.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Role

• I have a very deep religious belief.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

  Topics in Belief

  Tags in Religious

• 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.

  Mstislav Rostropovich

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  Tags in Walk, I Came

Mstislav Rostropovich (25)

Birth:	27th March, 1927
Death:	27th April, 2007
Nationality:	Russian
Profession:	Cellist, Music Conductor

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