[watersb]

A Facebook post, letter to the editor (London Times, I think):

https://www.facebook.com/100058234413220/posts/3780988174745...

The letter reads:

"Sir, Richard Morrison is right to question the wisdom of banning all Russian artists on the basis of their nationality ("Ban Gergiev and Netrebko, but don't cancel all Russian artists".)

In August 1968, the day after Soviet tanks had rolled into Prague to crush the lenient rule of Alexander Dubcek, the great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich played at the BBC Proms with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra.

With the greatest irony the work he was scheduled to perform was the Czech composer Antonin Dvorak's magnificent Cello Concerto. I was there: the extraordinary intensity of Rostropovich's performance, together with the tears visibly pouring down his cheeks as the concerto neared its end, spoke more than any number of words.

   Julian Lloyd Webber
   London SW7"