This red-haired Texan's CD outlives most others.
appreciative of talent, a music lover, convinced good things really can last, a history lover, fascinated by diversity
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DEC
28
2008
The hero's name? Van Cliburn. His act of valor? Winning a major musical competition in the Soviet Union (Russia) during the worst of the big-old, bad-old Cold War months after Sputnik.
No one ever thought the Russians would allow a non-Russian, much less a 23-year-old American, to win the prestigious Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. But Van, a gangly Texan with a mop of curly red hair, won over the populace and the judges with his electric pianism -- particularly in Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.
Van's lazy drawl and gentle manner so further endeared him to the public that he was followed on the streets of Moscow. Time and again people were brought to cheers and tears by his Olympian command of the most difficult piano music and by the emotion he brought to great Romantic Period works. In the future, Van would be welcomed back like a family friend to Russia's otherwise hostile environment.
Americans, totally captivated by the young pianist's Cold War victory, celebrated his return with a ticker tape parade in New York City. Time magazine put him on its cover. For weeks, there were photos and interviews on the front pages of every major American newspaper. For its time, this was an extraordinary event of national, musical, even political significance. Now, with the decline of public attention to the arts, such a happening would seem to be impossible.
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The recording of the Tchaikovsky above was made by Cliburn, the RCA Symphony Orchestra and the Tchaikovsky Competition conductor, Kiril Kondrashin, shortly after the pianist's triumphant return from Russia. Also on the disk is Cliburn's playing of the Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff with famed conductor Fritz Reiner and the incomparable Chicago Symphony. Rachmaninoff, another Romantic Russian, composed this work after hypnosis treatment for an excruciating writer's block. It remains one of his most popular works and is occasionally heard in TV commercials and as the old pop tune "Full Moon and Empty Arms".If you aren't familiar with Cliburn, Tchaikovsky, and Rachmaninoff, this is a good place to start your classical education. If you have heard this music and performance, you may, like me, be on your second or third recording of it.
The CD is available on Amazon at super savings.
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Unfamiliar with classical music? If so, it will help to know that a Concerto is a work for soloist and orchestra generally created in three independent movements. In the Tchaikovsky, the first movement begins very dramatically with Cliburn moving huge chords from the lower part of the piano to the upper registers of the instrument. The second movement with its beautiful, poignant melodies, is lyrical in much the way that Tchaikovsky's ballet music is lyrical. The third movement is all drive and fireworks, full of biting chords, always plunging ahead to its eventual, rousing conclusion.For a pianist, the preparation of a work like this is exactly like the preparation other super athletes do, whether in baseball, swimming, basketball, etc. Years of training, concentration, stamina, incredible will and, finally, plain old good luck are the components of a successful performer's career.
Last edited on Dec 28, 2008
Van Cliburn is recommended by TunefulGal
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