For me the Tchaikovsky concerto on this disc is one of those
recordings that remain in your aural memory and are used, often
quite involuntarily, as the benchmark against which all other
recordings are judged. What makes a recording fall into such
a category is hard to say but it could become one for all kinds
of reasons, not least because it made such an impact at the
time you heard it, maybe for the very first time. It is this
reason I suspect that places these recordings firmly in that
bracket. In 1958 I was only 17 and I well remember buying the
LP of the concerto (RCA Victor LM-2252 Red Seal) when it first
appeared on the record shop shelves with its gold band around
the edge and the photo of the tousle-haired Texan Van Cliburn
on the cover. What had inspired me to buy it, possibly the very
first LP I’d ever bought for myself, apart perhaps for
“Bluejean Bop”, a record by Gene Vincent and his
Blue Caps (!), was that Van Cliburn had created a sensation
by being the very first pianist to win at the inaugural International
Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958. If I remember rightly
it cost at least 28/11 (£1.49 or around $1) and what an
investment it was, or might have been if I’d still got
it.
The competition, which at its inception was for both pianists
and violinists, with categories for cello and male and female
voice coming later, was conceived to showcase Soviet talent
to the world during the cold war and following the USSR’s
surprise launch of the first sputnik the previous year. One
can therefore imagine the shock the judges had when they felt
they had to award the first ever prize to an American, not so
say dismay, since they then had to break it to Krushchev who
famously said ‘Is he the best?’ and when told that
he was said simply ‘Then give him the prize’. There
was no doubt that he was the best and the audience - one of
whom was Krushchev himself - gave him an eight minute ovation.
The authorities subsequently became used to awarding the main
prize to non-Soviet pianists at times: John Ogdon shared the
prize in 1962 with Vladimir Ashkenazy (who left the USSR the
next year) and other winners have included Grigory Sokolov,
John Lill (sharing with Vladimir Krainev), Andrei Gavrilov,
Mikhail Pletnev, Peter Donohoe (sharing with Vladimir Ovchinnikov),
Barry Douglas and Boris Berezovsky. The competition has, like
the piano competition in Leeds, UK, become an international
launching pad for world class talent. For Van Cliburn to bring
home to the USA such a prize from such a place was greeted with
a Time magazine front cover entitled “The Texan who conquered
Russia!”. He was accorded a ticker tape welcome in New
York, the only one ever for a classical musician and normally
reserved for political giants, baseball teams and the likes
of Amelia Earhart the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
The impact upon the musical world was huge and the 24 year old’s
career shot into the stratosphere - in 1962 a competition was
even established, named in his honour. His record with Kirill
Kondrashin conducting the RCA Symphony Orchestra was the best
selling classical record for a decade and the first ever to
reach platinum, finally achieving triple-platinum, meaning sales
of over 3 million. Was this warranted I hear you cry, now that
the dust of time has settled. I say, yes it was; this performance
really is that special with an electricity in it that is almost
palpable. It’s as if one were hearing it for the very
first time. There’s a theatrical sweep to the music that
makes for a truly memorable experience. You will have to be
the judge of this and make up your own mind as to whether, given
the background against which it was recorded, it is just my
own fancy; I say not. I say it is warranted because it is a
great performance irrespective of all the political and cultural
baggage associated with it even if I may find it hard to ignore
it all. I truly believe that I would form the same opinion if
I were to listen to it “blind” as it were. There
is no mention of who was responsible for re-mastering it but
it was re-mastered in 2004 when it was released on SACD. This
may be a ‘pressing’ from that but in any event the
sound is fresh and with a startling clarity for a recording
that was originally made over 50 years ago. Tchaikovsky himself
would have been thrilled to hear such a faultless performance
and the passage of time has done nothing to diminish my initial
feelings. Van Cliburn’s ability to achieve muscularity
when required and a degree of refined and sensitive subtlety
at other times helps deliver a thrilling performance which leaves
a memorable impression. How strange it is to read that its original
dedicatee Nikolai Rubinstein (Anton’s brother) rejected
it as ‘worthless’ and ‘unplayable’ and
hard to imagine how crushing a rebuff that must have been for
the composer.
Two years after the record’s release, in 1960, Van Cliburn
made the other recording on the disc: the piano concerto by
Schumann together with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under
its conductor Fritz Reiner. Once again his subtlety and sensitivity
are well to the fore in a performance of great beauty. It is
no surprise to learn that Schumann wrote the work for his beloved
wife Clara, one of the truly great pianists of that generation.
For me Van Cliburn makes the concerto more beautiful than I
normally give it credit for. That only goes to show how vital
a good performance is in forming opinions as much about the
work itself as the event on the day. He emphasises the gentle
nature of many of its passages, particularly in its slow second
movement marked Andantino grazioso but delivers a powerful
punch at the necessary junctures especially in its closing moments
when majesty is called for in spades.
Van Cliburn retired from the public eye, save for the odd appearance,
in 1978 following the deaths of both his manager and his father.
The musical world has been the poorer because of that for he
was a lion of the keyboard without any doubt. This CD is a brilliant
historical record of his prowess and one to be treasured.
Steve Arloff
Masterwork Index: Tchaikovsky
~~ Schumann
Van Cliburn (piano) 