The first thing Mstislav Rostropovich did in Moscow last week was go to Novodevichy Cemetery. "To make my tears for my dearest friends," as he told one interviewer. The great cellist laid flowers on the grave of Dmitri Shostakovich, who once taught him composition (Rostropovich quit the Moscow Conservatory when Shostakovich was dismissed for having offended Stalin's sensibilities). He laid more at the graves of Sergei Prokofiev, David Oistrakh and Emil Gilels. The next day, at another cemetery, he paid his respects to his mother Sofia and to Andrei Sakharov, whom he called "the greatest man of the 20th century."
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