By Bill Zeeble
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-695544.mp3
Dallas, TX – In 1958, Cliburn's performance of Tchaikovsky's 1st Piano concerto helped secure the 23 year old Texan his Moscow victory. It's become his signature piece. Playing it in the Russian capitol was a thrill for Cliburn, who'd dreamed of visiting the city from a young age, but had only left the U.S. for Canada.
Van Cliburn: A very strange moment, when I was 5 and I recall it, I saw this photo of the church of St. Basil. It was breathtaking. I said mommy daddy take me there. They said oh sure. Then, when I first saw it at night it was extraordinary. :46 And of course I had heard famous stories of the Moscow conservatory and St. Petersburg conservatory. And to play on that stage where so many great famous people had performed was just breathtaking, figuratively and literally. But what really was so interesting, was the fact these people knew these works and knew them so well.
Zeeble: Which, of course, means just about everything to Cliburn. He often quotes Rachmaninoff, who said Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music. Cliburn's first love was opera, & even when he was little wanted to be an opera singer. Then, after trying and rejecting violin, he settled on piano. He was four.
Cliburn: I remember at lunch, telling my parents, I said I am going to be a concert pianist. Not that I wanted to be, but that I am GOING to be! They thought I was crazy. I just knew.
Zeeble: Cliburn's grateful the piano became his means of self expression. So were others. His recording of Tchaikovsky's First Concerto, produced right after his Moscow victory, became the first classical disc ever, to go platinum. But it's live performances he treasures most, when he connects with his audience.
Cliburn: They're giving you electrical energy that's so incredible and they're giving you psychic inspiration that lifts you and thrills you and makes you feel more inspired. You're trying to penetrate sound. Like when you speak to someone. You want to speak clearly, directly, you want to make the other person feel that you're interested not only in what you're saying but what they have to say. It's a human connection. Which is so vitally important.
Zeeble: Honoring that human connection, a close family friend and renowned music teacher, Doctor Irl Allison, helped create the first International Piano competition in Fort Worth. He donated 10 thousand dollars for a first prize, and said the competition would be named for Rildia B. Cliburn's little boy, Van.
Cliburn: So, oh we were just all shocked. We got back to the Texas hotel, and my mother said Oh Van, you don't have to worry about a thing. Irl was just being nice to me. And little did we realize, in September of 1962 would be the first competition. To which she said Don't worry Van, there'll only be one. And that'll be all.
Zeeble: That was 46 years ago. The seed that sprouted the first Cliburn competition has grown into the Cliburn Foundation, now preparing for the 13th competition, set for next year. The non profit foundation not only holds the international event every 4 years, it sponsors a piano competition for amateurs, promotes music education, and presents chamber concerts in Fort Worth each season. It's become part of Fort Worth's artistic glue. Foundation Board Chair Alann Sampson's been involved since the start.
Alann B. Sampson, Board Chair, Cliburn Foundation: I was here for the first competition as a volunteer. I was a piano student and my teacher said you WILL BE at Ed Landreth auditorium. And it was wonderful. I was smitten from the first hour.
Sampson: In no other community in the world do you see more than one thousand volunteers, do you see individuals opening homes to competitors, hosting events for competitors. The whole town comes together.
Zeeble: The Cliburn Foundation aims to maintain that involvement, by keeping the competition fresh, while honoring the past, on this 50th anniversary. Fort Worth already celebrated the event with a big banquet and fundraiser, even though Cliburn himself was initially usure about it.
Cliburn: It's been an adventure for more years than I wish to think about . That's one of the funny things , Richard Rodzinski and Alann Sampson came to me several months ago and they said we would like to celebrate and I didn't want to. I told them I didn't' want people to know my age. They said we have news for you, they already know. (laughs).
Zeeble: These days, the Cliburn Foundation is considering not only Bass Hall, but a smaller, more intimate setting, in keeping with chamber music traditions. The foundation already puts some recitals on You Tube and its own web site. As long as the focus stays on music, Cliburn says he's happy. His attitude's is really unchanged from the day 50 years ago, when New York City threw him a ticker tape parade, the only classical musician to be so honored.
Cliburn: As I was waving to them , I thought isn't this wonderful, not for me, they're honoring classical music. I was only the instrument.
Bill Zeeble KERA news.