Van Cliburn (July 12, 1934-Feb. 27, 2013)
Pianist Van Cliburn performs to a packed audience in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in April 1958 during the first International Tchaikovsky Competition. / AP-Yonhap
Iconic US pianist credited for spreading peace through music
By Do Je-hae
Rarely has the death of a classical pianist invited such a flood of tributes — even from heads of state — and media attention as that of Van Cliburn, the legendary U.S. pianist and Cold War cultural envoy who passed away last week.
The musical peacemaker died at the age of 78 last Wednesday after losing his fight to bone cancer.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama were some of the many dignitaries who expressed their sadness at the passing of the iconic Texan artist, who became an overnight sensation after winning the inaugural Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, at the height of the Cold War.
“He quickly became a beloved ambassador of American culture around the world — especially in the former Soviet Union,” Obama said in a statement Sunday. “His music transcended the challenges of international politics and contributed to an unlikely thaw in Cold War relations.”
This unlikely competition success propelled him to a level of stardom seldom enjoyed by a classical musician. Following the competition, he was greeted with a ticker tape parade in New York City, while Time Magazine Cover proclaimed him the “The Texan Who Conquered Russia.”
In the 1950s and 60s, he was known as the “Elvis of classical music.” He sold out concerts and his RCA recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with Russian conductor Kirill Kondrashin became the first classical album to reach platinum status.
Embodiment of Russian Romantics
It was expected that Cliburn’s days were numbered, after a diagnosis of bone cancer was made public last September. His passing leaves a huge void in the hearts of many who love piano music, particularly the jewels of Russian Romanticism.
“Cliburn introduced Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff to a younger generation — those who may never have heard or liked classical music,” said Juilliard School President Joseph Polisi during a memorial service for Cliburn at the Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday. About 1,400 people attended the service.
For those who are familiar with the tradition of virtuoso pianism, Cliburn’s passing marks the end of an era.
He was one of the last surviving artists of the golden age of the piano that had begun early and mid 20th century and flourished with iconic names like Claudio Arrau (1903-1991), Vladimir Horowitz (1903-1989), Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) and Emil Gilels (1916-1985), among others.
A former child prodigy, he won the prestigious Leventritt Award — the top U.S. music prize at the time — in 1954, but his career still hadn’t taken off and he entered the inaugural Tchaikovsky competition in 1958 upon the suggestion of his Juilliard teacher Rosina Lhevinne to rejuvenate his career.
The Texan’s pianistic lineage takes him all the way back to Franz Listz (1811-1886), the 19th-century Hungarian composer and pianist. Until the age of 17, Cliburn had studied solely with his mother Rildia Bee Cliburn, a professional pianist who had studied under Arthur Friedheim, a pupil of Franz Liszt.
Cliburn attributed his elegant, singing tone to his mother’s early teachings.
“My mother had a gorgeous singing voice. She always told me that the first instrument is the human voice. When you are playing the piano, it is not digital, you must find a singing sound,” Cliburn said in a 2008 interview with The New York Times.
An exceptional command of the Russian Romantics was honed under Lhevinne’s guidance.
Lhevinne’s pupils included many piano virtuosos and conductors, such as James Levine, Metropolitan Opera director, and Han Tong-il, the pioneering Korean pianist who won the Leventritt Award in 1965. But Cliburn was her most famous pupil at the time. One of the reasons Russian music lovers considered Cliburn their own was the tight connection with the legendary Ukraine-born pedagogue.
‘True friend of the Russian people’
Cliburn’s attachment to the music-loving Russia lasted a lifetime, and he returned to perform and make public appearances many times. Following his death, Russians were at the forefront of a chorus of praise for the late pianist, among them Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Over the course of many years, during the most difficult historical times, the art of Van Cliburn brought together people from different countries, different continents and united them,” Putin said in a statement that was read during the memorial service. “We shall always remember Van Cliburn as a true and sincere friend of the Russian people.”
It wasn’t just Cliburn’s pianistic heritage that had won the approval of the Russian people.
He also bared a physical resemblance to Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), the iconic Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who enjoys national hero status. Rachmaninoff was known for his unusually huge hands and so was Cliburn; by age 12, he could reach an octave and a half on the piano and shot up to 6 feet 4 inches at age 17. No one could ask for a better physique to tackle the challenges of the Russian Romantic masterpieces.
His unassuming, humble character also endeared him to the Russians.
Upon returning to the U.S. from Moscow, Cliburn said that the Russians’ love of music and kindness had “reminded him of the Texans.”
He did not think that the “Texan Who Conquered Russia” was a fitting description for what happened at the Tchaikovsky Competition.
“(Conquering) is not possible, not in great art. I didn’t conquer anything. As a matter of fact, the Russians conquered my heart,” he said during a PBS interview in 2008, looking back on his 50 years as a concert pianist.
The jury of the inaugural Tchaikovsky Competition was filled with the biggest names in Russian music. They reportedly sought approval from Premier Nikita Khrushchev to honor an American with the first prize.
“It was very exciting, particularly for me, to see the jury; it was an unbelievable jury, (Dmitry) Shostakovich, Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter.”
Perhaps due to such a meteoric rise to stardom, Cliburn’s potential as a pianist was never quite realized and his career dwindled rapidly in the 1970s.
By 1978, he was practically retired, playing only on select occasions. After a long absence, Cliburn emerged from retirement to perform during Mikhail Gorbachev’s first 1987 visit to the United States at the White House, at the invitation of the late President Ronald Reagan.
Because the audience wanted to hear him mostly in his trademark pieces, he wasn’t successful at expanding his repertoire.
As a result, he has left a very limited discography. For someone with such a refined tone, he hardly played Chopin or Liszt. A rare, exquisite video recording of him playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto N.5 “Emperor” in the 1960s is a reminder of what might have been had he developed an Austro-German repertoire.
But what he achieved in the Russian Romantic repertoire is exceptional. In particular, the live recording of the Rachmaninoff Piano N. 3 at Carnegie Hall on the night of his Post-Tchaikovsky Competition concert has been a favorite with critics and fans for years.
The late New York Times music critic Harold C. Schonberg once commented: “No matter what Cliburn eventually goes on to do this will be one of the great spots of his career; and if for some reason he fails to fulfill his potentialities, he will always have this to look back upon.”
Since that fateful year in Moscow, perhaps his most lasting achievement is the opportunities he has given to the new generation of pianists through the Van Cliburn International Music Competition. Korean pianist Son Yeol-eum launched an international career after taking the silver medal at this competition in 2009.
Held every four years in Fort Worth, it is among the top showcases for the world’s best pianists since its creation in 1962. The next competition, to be held in May and June, will he organized in Cliburn’s memory.