Great Performers: Mstislav Rostropovich

Yet Rostropovich was much more than just one of the greatest cellists of the post-war era: he was a fine pianist (often accompanying his wife, the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya), an inspirational if wilful conductor, but also a force of nature, someone who took up political causes with the same overt passion that animated his music making. He stood shoulder to shoulder with the persecuted, and would pop up, complete with cello, at times of crisis or revolution – at the Berlin Wall in 1989, or alongside his friend Boris Yeltsin in Moscow in 1991. Known to everyone as Slava, Rostropovich was one of those people who made anyone who met him feel as if they were the most important person in the world to him, even if just for a few minutes.

Rostropovich wore his heart on his sleeve and, musically, that could lead to performances that bordered on the extreme – his set of the Bach Cello Suites is too romantic for many people, but every bar speaks of its performer's utter belief in the music and an artistic integrity that is palpable. It was primarily in Russian and Slavic music that he excelled: the handful of recordings of the Dvořák Cello Concerto that he made have a soulful quality alongside the gorgeous open-throated song of the outer movements (the 1968 Deutsche Grammophon account, with Karajan conducting, is perhaps the most famous; an earlier one, from 1952, with Vacláv Talich conducting is perhaps the most "complete").

In the works written for him, there is a total identification with the music and the motivation for that music. Take Mieczysław Weinberg's Cello Concerto of 1948, which Rostropovich premiered in 1957 and later recorded. Rostropovich's ability to make his instrument sing makes this already soulful work touch the heart with an extraordinary immediacy and impact. And the same might be said of numerous works written for him by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Britten, Dutilleux, Shchedrin and myriad others. And quite remarkable is the calibre of musician that Rostropovich would work with – that amazing group included the pianists Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels, and the violinists David Oistrakh or Leonid Kogan.

Rostropovich's repertoire was very broad, partly because so many composers wrote pieces for him, but he played his part in establishing some now-key works such as Haydn's First Cello Concerto, only discovered in 1961 and now a central part of the repertoire. Rostropovich recorded it in 1964 with Benjamin Britten conducting and then again with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in 1976, a recording that some might find a little over-emotional, virtuoso though the playing undoubtedly is. Britten and Rostropovich were close friends and this friendship not only gave us some great works but they were also a superb performing duo – just listen to them in Debussy's Cello Sonata to hear chamber music making of a truly superior quality.

As a conductor, Rostropovich enjoyed his longest relationship with Washington DC's National Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble he directed from 1977 to 1994, and with which he recorded extensively. He also worked with, and recorded with, the LPO (with whom he recorded Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) and especially the LSO, with whom he recorded a number of the Shostakovich symphonies, as well as accompanying Maxim Vengerov in the violin concertos by Prokofiev and Shostakovich magnificently.

Rostropovich's fearless opposition to oppression resulted in his leaving the USSR and being stripped of his citizenship. He lived variously in London, Paris and the US, before returning home once his citizenship was restored in 1990. And it was in Moscow that he died in April 2007, aged 80. As a muse, performer and champion he was unique, and his enormous recorded legacy remains a thing of wonder. We will never see the likes of him again.

[Due to geo-blocking restrictions, some tracks might be unavailable in certain territories.]