RIP Van Cliburn

[Chris A]

Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr. (1934-2013) - Fort Worth, Texas, world famous pianist and first winner of the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition (1958).

"At the end of the ticker-tape parade in May 1958, the 23-year-old addressed the crowd at New York's city hall:

'I appreciate more than you will ever know that you are honoring me, but the thing that thrills me the most is that you are honoring classical music,' Cliburn said. 'Because I'm only one of many. I'm only a witness and a messenger. Because I believe so much in the beauty, the construction, the architecture invisible, the importance for all generations, for young people to come that it will help their minds, develop their attitudes and give them values. That is why I'm so grateful that you have honored me in that spirit.'" (from CNN)

[Boxx]

What a loss. Not only a world famous pianist, but also a humanitarian and one who gave back.

[juniper8]

What an amazing pianist, such a big loss, even the russians appreciated him.

[mark1101]

"architecture invisible"..........That's a good description of classical music..........I like that![]

[RT FAN]

You have a penchant for understatement Juniper, Van Cliburn was much loved & revered in the former Soviet Union/Russia. His playing proved that music could provide a cultural bridge between the peoples of 2 nations that were mostly untrusting of the other. Van Cliburn's contributions to a better & safer world dwarf the resumes of far more notable politicians & self aggrandizing egotists. RIP.

[LarryC]

The only classical musician ever to get a NYC ticker-tape parade.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/02/remembering-master-pianist-maestro-van-cliburn.html

[Daddy Dee]

wow. that's impressive. thanks Larry.

[Chris A]

Shostakovich and Kabalevsky were two of the five judges at that competition. Other judges included Russian pianists Emil Gilels and Sviatoslav Richter. The last judge was British (Sir Arthur Bliss).

It must have been "not very close" for Cliburn to win.

Chris

[LarryC]

It must have been "not very close" for Cliburn to win.

Must not. It was fascinating to watch the old grainy videos of his contest performance in Moscow; his dynamic shadings were spectacturely good and really made a song of the melodies, both in the the Tchaikovsky and Rach 3 (these can be easily found on Youtube).

But I always wondered why he seemed to retire much too early. Today's Washington Post had a retrospective on VC by Tim Page, the Post's emeritus music critic, which shockingly said that VC began to go downhill quickly and lost all his magic in less than 5 years after Moscow. He suggested no reason for this sad decline.

"Within five years, his playing had begun a marked deterioration.

“From the mid-1960s, it seemed he could not cope with the loss of freshness,” Michael Steinberg wrote in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. “His repertory was restricted; his playing, always guided primarily by intuition, took on affectations and the sound itself became harsher.”"

There must have been similar declines in musicians in history, but I don't recall one that spectacular.

P.S. Not many remember now, 55 years later, that the US was scared to pieces by how the Soviet Union had taken over one E European country after another after WWII and had just launched the world's first spacecraft the year before. It was a great relief to the country that we could finally do something better than the Russians! It was said that millions of Americans who had never dreamed of interest in classical music went out and patriotically bought VC's Tchaikovsky No. 1 LP. Probably the only classical LP many of them ever bought.

[edwinr]

Very sad to hear. He's left a wonderful legacy with his music.

[Chris A]

There must have been similar declines in musicians in history, but I don't recall one that spectacular.

I remember my mother (a trained musicologist and organist) talking about this when I was in Jr. High, and I remember reacting to this conversation negatively, thinking that the common opinion of the man wasn't fair and overly critical. But I also heard him play--and wasn't impressed.

Chris

[LarryC]

The New York TImes had a magnificent article on Van yesterday, which goes into a lot more detail on his early rise and leveling out and decline. It's still a mystery to me, but his great insularity, stubborn insistence on only being taught by his mother until the age of 17, and perhaps his disinterest in other things, not only outside his narrow field, but even in broadening his repertoire, may have held the seeds of his slide. So many really great musicians a fabulous intellect and range of knowledge, which VC never demonstrated.

Here's the NYT's fine music analyst Anthony Tommasini's article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/arts/music/van-cliburn-pianist-dies-at-78.html?_r=0 . Lengthy but well worth reading.

Let me repeat a P.S. I added above, for those who missed it: Not many remember now, 55 years later, that the US was scared to pieces by how the Soviet Union had taken over one E European country after another after WWII, and had just launched the world's first spacecraft the year before. It was a great relief to the country that we could finally do something better than the Russians! It was said that millions of Americans who had never dreamed of interest in classical music went out and patriotically bought VC's Tchaikovsky No. 1 LP. Probably the only classical LP many of them ever bought.

Larry

[Chris A]

So many really great musicians a fabulous intellect and range of knowledge, which VC never demonstrated.

Perhaps the judgments of the world really were unfair: apparently, everyone wanted him to be something other than himself. Being judged at age 24 or 25 on your interpretation of Mozart piano concerto as if you were a world authority on Mozart, just after demonstrating your world talent for late Russian Romancism is a bit of a high bar, one would think.

Personally, I still enjoy Cliburn's early performances on his signature pieces--that's enough for me, and is light years farther down the road from anything that I could ever expect for your typical pop, rock, country, or blues star. The bar is definitely much higher for this particular genre - perhaps higher than mainstream jazz musicians.

Chris

[LarryC]

I think he won Moscow at age 23, reminding me of Geo Custer at the peak of his powers and accomplishments at 23-25 but who also jumped the shark at that time. I agree, and am very glad we have the Tchaikovsky 1 and Rach 3, especially the grainy films from Moscow which to me really convey his talent. His leadership in the annual VC competitions in Texas is world-famous, too, so that's also all to the good.