Mstislav Rostropovich passed away

[pincopallino]

A big loss for our world.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/27/friday/index.html

[akiralx]

Yep, sad - but what a  fabulous life and career he had.

Not known as a Mahlerian I think, or did he conduct any of the symphonies, perhaps in Washington? 

My favourite record by him is the Schubert Quintet D956 with the Melos Quartet on DG.

[barry guerrero]

Rostroprovich once gave the Mahler "Resurrection" in Washington D.C., and it was allegedly a very exciting performance. I recently saw him do Shostakovich 5 - plus the "Festive Overture" - here in S.F.  I must say, he made the S.F. string section sound about a thousand times better, in terms of sound quality, than it ever does under Tilson-Thomas (who I wish would just leave). He also let the low brass and percussion play out more than usual also. It sounded like a totally different orchestra under him (as opposed to MTT's usual expanded broadway pit band sound).