MUSIC

Stormy Cellist: Cellist Mstislav Rostropovich stormed out of a performance at a Rome concert hall because he was being televised without advance warning. In a letter published in Rome’s Il Tempo newspaper, Rostropovich said he left during the intermission of a concert at the Santa Cecilia Academy on Friday “because I did not feel I could give the public my best and because the first half was already ruined.” Friends said Rostropovich was so furious that he left his priceless Stradivarius cello behind in the concert hall and walked back to his hotel in the pouring rain. Rostropovich, who is the music director of the National Symphony, wrote that he dislikes being filmed: “It is probably an artistic defect but I cannot concentrate in such circumstances because when I play for the camera, I lose all intimacy with the public.”