{"id":50210,"date":"2024-12-08T18:08:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-08T17:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/00766787-0f39-4215-b494-aab0620b1546"},"modified":"2024-12-08T19:09:20","modified_gmt":"2024-12-08T18:09:20","slug":"van-cliburn-the-american-pianist-who-triumphed-in-russia-at-the-cold-wars-chilliest-moment","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/van-cliburn-the-american-pianist-who-triumphed-in-russia-at-the-cold-wars-chilliest-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"Van Cliburn: the American pianist who triumphed in Russia at the Cold War’s chilliest moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Sunday, 08 December 2024 at 17:08 PM<\/p>

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The pianist smiling in triumph on stage at the end of the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition<\/a><\/strong> in Moscow was probably not the one the organisers had wanted.<\/p>

After all, an event set up to showcase young Soviet pianists as \u2018the best in the world\u2019 and backed to the hilt by leader Nikita Khrushchev\u2019s government would surely award its first prize to home-grown talent? And yet here on 13 April 1958, enjoying the acclaim of jury and audience alike, was Van Cliburn. From Texas, USA, of all places.<\/p>

<\/div> <\/figure> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Cold War had reached freezing point<\/h2> <p>Relations between the USSR and US were not exactly cordial when the competition began on 18 March. Though the terror of Stalin\u2019s rule was now five years in the past, his successor had focused his attentions on ramping up tension with the West. With the Sputnik programme giving his country an early lead over the US in the space race, Khrushchev had made much of the USSR\u2019s rapidly increasing nuclear capacity, threatening that he could use it to bring widespread annihilation should he chose to do so. The Cold War had reached freezing point.<\/p> <p>And yet, almost from the moment he set foot in Moscow, the reception for the 23-year-old Cliburn could not have been warmer. \u2018I was just so involved with the sweet and friendly people who were so passionate about music,\u2019 he recalled later, when asked if he had been aware of the political significance of his win. Lanky, slightly awkward and with long fingers that glided gracefully over the keyboard, the tall Texan soon became a favourite with this allegedly most inhospitable of hosts.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Van Cliburn - Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No 1 in B-flat minor, Op 23\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qsb1GIhhJfg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘Is he the best? Then give him the prize!’<\/h2> <p>And at the final at the Great Hall of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, his performances of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/pyotr-ilyich-tchaikovsky\/\">Tchaikovsky<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s First and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/composers\/sergey-rachmaninov\/\">Rachmaninov<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Third Piano Concertos had the audience even more in the palms of those enormous hands \u2013 an eight-minute standing ovation followed.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/greatest-piano-concertos-all-time\">The 12 greatest piano concertos of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>After the applause had died down, Van Cliburn made a brief speech in Russian. He then took his seat back at the piano and began to play his own piano arrangement of the much-loved Russian song ‘Moscow Nights’. This performance only further endeared the charismatic American to his Russian hosts. In the film of the competition, you can clearly see the surprise and delight of the Russian musicians on stage.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/best-russian-composers\">Top 10 Russian composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/six-best-russian-orchestral-works\">Six of the best Russian orchestral works<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>Have a watch of this magical moment:<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Van Cliburn plays the Russian Song "Moscow Nights"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vkxSgmoqpTs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <\/figure> <p>Within the jury, meanwhile, pianist Sviatoslav Richter (who we named one of the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/20-greatest-pianists-all-time\/\">greatest pianists of all time<\/a><\/strong>) described Cliburn as \u2018a genius\u2019, scoring him 100 out of 100.<\/p> <p>But what would Khrushchev make of this American usurper? Surely the Soviet leader would not tolerate such an affront? Quite the opposite, in fact. \u2018Is he the best pianist?\u2019 he is said to have replied when asked by the judges for his approval of their decision. \u2018Then give him the prize!\u2019 The two were later photographed sharing a warm embrace at the post-competition reception.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/six-of-the-best-pieces-of-soviet-chamber-music\">Six of the best: Soviet chamber music works<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who was Van Cliburn?<\/h2> <p>Winning such a showpiece event brought Van Cliburn instant fame on a global scale. He was not entirely unknown before heading off for Moscow \u2013 his victory in the Leventritt Award in the US in 1954 had led to engagements with several important US orchestras. Now, though, he was a full-grown international star.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/big-five-orchestras\">Who are the ‘Big Five’ orchestras?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/worlds-best-orchestras\">These are the greatest orchestras in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <p>On returning to the US, Van Cliburn was heralded by a ticker-tape parade through the streets of New York, the first ever musician to receive such an honour, and featured on the front cover of<i> Time<\/i> magazine. Major honours in both his own country and in the USSR \u2013 the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of Friendship respectively \u2013 soon followed.<\/p> <p>Though his career was never to reach such stratospheric heights again, Cliburn retained a cult following for years to come. His RCA Victor recording of Tchaikovsky\u2019s First Piano Concerto, made in the same year as his competition win, went on to become the first classical album to achieve platinum status (more than one million copies) in the US, and he continued to perform to packed houses. He returned on several occasions to the Soviet Union, where enthusiastic members of his audiences included Khrushchev himself.<\/p> <p>And in 1962, the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/cliburn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Van Cliburn International Piano Competition<\/a><\/strong> was launched in Fort Worth in his honour. Van Cliburn passed way in 2012. But still, every four years, brilliant young pianists from across the world gather in his home state, aiming to emulate the feats of the player who achieved the most dramatic competition win of them all.<\/p> <p><strong>Top image by Getty Images<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Sunday, 08 December 2024 at 17:08 PM The pianist smiling in triumph on stage at the end of the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow was probably not the one the organisers had wanted. After all, an event set up to showcase young Soviet pianists as \u2018the best in the world\u2019 and backed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":50211,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/van-cliburn-the-american-pianist-who-triumphed-in-russia-at-the-cold-wars-chilliest-moment.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/van-cliburn-the-american-pianist-who-triumphed-in-russia-at-the-cold-wars-chilliest-moment-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/van-cliburn-the-american-pianist-who-triumphed-in-russia-at-the-cold-wars-chilliest-moment-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/van-cliburn-the-american-pianist-who-triumphed-in-russia-at-the-cold-wars-chilliest-moment-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/van-cliburn-the-american-pianist-who-triumphed-in-russia-at-the-cold-wars-chilliest-moment-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/van-cliburn-the-american-pianist-who-triumphed-in-russia-at-the-cold-wars-chilliest-moment.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/van-cliburn-the-american-pianist-who-triumphed-in-russia-at-the-cold-wars-chilliest-moment.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Sunday, 08 December 2024 at 17:08 PM The pianist smiling in triumph on stage at the end of the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow was probably not the one the organisers had wanted. After all, an event set up to showcase young Soviet pianists as \u2018the best in the world\u2019 and backed…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/50210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}