The death of Russian maestro Rostropovich makes three… -The iPINIONS Journal

Just this morning I appended the following note to my tribute to the death of Jack Valenti:

Boris Yeltsin died on Monday. Valenti died yesterday. Therefore, I’m sure regular readers of this weblog are wondering if my voodoo hypothesis – namely, that “deaths of famous people come in threes” – will hold true; i.e., with another celebrity death before next Monday….

Therefore, imagine my shock (okay – informed resignation) when I read a BBC report – published just hours later – on the death of acclaimed cellist Mstislav Rostropovich today in Moscow after a long bout of illness. He was 80.

Of course, it will be interesting to see how Russian President Vladimir Putin honors Rostropovich – who was renowned, revered and regaled internationally as much for being a brilliant artist as for being a conscientious objector to Soviet totalitarianism. After all, Putin is in the midst of the very kind of totalitarian crackdown on political freedoms that compelled Rostropovich decades ago to write an open letter in support of Russia’s most famous dissident, Alexander Solzhenitsyn. In fact, his political conscience eventually forced him into self-imposed exile in the early 1970s.

The best step was not found in music, but in one page of this letter…Since that moment my conscience was clean and clear.

Now matter the irony, however, I suspect Putin will do his best to orchestrate a farewell for Rostropovich that rivals that which he accorded Boris Yeltsin – another dissident Rostropovich was proud to call friend – just days ago.

But if you’ve never heard Rostropovich play, I urge you to buy any one of his many CDs today! And don’t be put off by that classical designation. Because long before Yo-Yo Ma, Rostropovich played classical music that I’m sure would make even Snoop Dogg’s most ardent want to bust-a-move….

Farewell Slava

NOTE: Though reluctantly, I hereby anoint myself a voodoo priest. Because even Baron Samedi was not this good….

Mstislav Rostropovich