This past weekend, as we in the OSO were discussing the life and impact of the great musician Mstislav Rostropovich, it came to my attention that one of our own cellists, Assistant principal cello David Sokolofsky, had a unique connection to history and Rostropovich. It’s a cool story, and rather than paraphrase it, here it is in David’s own words:
I was 15 at the time that Rostropovich premiered, in the Western world, the Shostakovich cello concerto (the first concerto) with the Philadelphia Orchestra. My mother, who had many musical contacts in southern NJ and Philadelphia (she studied viola with Leonard Mogill at the time), had heard about the concert and was able to get tickets for us.
We sat in one of the upper balconies of the Academy of Music, which was fine with me. Sightlines were good and so was projection of the music from the stage. I can still picture Rostropovich sitting down with his cello and hearing the opening solo notes of the concerto with his characteristically big and rich sound, as if he had been sitting right in front of us. I had never heard Rostropovich before, as most of us had not, and I was amazed at the strength of his sound and the accuracy of his playing, as well. He immediately became my favorite cellist!
Although I do not recall this, as I don’t remember whether they were introduced to the rest of us, the review stated that, in addition to Shostakovitch in the audience, there was Kabalevsky from the USSR side and a host of composers from the American side: Samuel Barber, Paul Creston (my mother reminds me that she beat him at ping pong at one of the ASOL conducting workshops), Henry Cowell, Norman Dello Joio, Roger Sessions, Gian-Carlo Menotti, and Vincent Persichetti, among others. Eugene Ormandy was conducting this performance and my future teacher, Elsa Hilger, was playing Assistant Principal Cellist.
At the time I did realize this was a special event, but now it seems even much more so from an historical perspective. To be in the audience with such illustrious Soviet and American composers, at a time when the relationship between our countries was not one of cooperation, and to hear a first performance (outside of Moscow) of one of the major cello concertos by one of the greatest cellists of all time was a wonderful experience. It seems to be especially meaningful at this time with the death of Rostropovich.