I would rather have ideas and some difficulties of technique than a perfect technique and no ideas.
Mstislav RostropovichThere is too much emphasis on technical perfection nowadays, and not enough on what music is actually about - irony, joy, human suffering, love.
Mstislav RostropovichYou must play for the love of music. Perfect technique is not as important as making music from the heart.
Mstislav RostropovichNow 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