Britten and Rostropovich: history in the making

The chance discovery of a long-lost film in a Russian archive led John Bridcut to unspool a remarkable connection between two musical greats – Benjamin Britten and Mstislav RostropovichOn the Kutuzov embankment in St Petersburg is a handsome mansion that caught Mstislav Rostropovich's eye when he returned to Russia in 1990 after 16 years in exile. During the Soviet years it had been converted into communal apartments, and Rostropovich set about rehousing no fewer than 42 different families (th...

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