Texas pianist Van Cliburn performs to a packed audience in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory in April 1958.
Van Cliburn became an international cultural hero when he won a Cold War-era piano competition in the former Soviet Union and rocketed to unheard-of stardom for a classical musician in the U.S.
Mr. Cliburn, who died Wednesday at age 78 near Fort Worth, Texas, according to the Associated press, stunned the world in 1958 when, soon after the Soviet Union had launched the first satellite in orbit, he won that country's first International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition—a contest intended to showcase local talent.
His 1958 recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 became the first classical album to sell more than 1 million copies. The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, for which he served as artistic adviser, became one of the world's most prestigious. He remains the only musician ever celebrated with a New York ticker-tape parade. Mr. Cliburn's affection for the Soviet people—and theirs for him—was notable in its warmth during a prolonged period of superpower strain.
Van Cliburn's Great Performances
At the 1958 competition, the Soviets were enraptured by the emotive interpretations of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff that poured forth from the lanky, young Texan—then 23 years old.
After Mr. Cliburn earned roaring ovations, the Soviet ministry of culture relayed concerns to a Communist Party official. She went to the Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev, according to Mr. Khrushchev's son, Sergei Khrushchev, a professor at Brown University.
"The jury says the American is the best, but…," the official began, leaving the political quandary unsaid.
"Is the American really the best?" Mr. Khrushchev asked.
He was, she replied.
"So you have to give him the prize," the Soviet leader said, according to his son.
Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr. was born in Shreveport, La. His father was an oil executive, and his mother, Rildia Bee O'Bryan Cliburn, a piano teacher who had studied with a pupil of Franz Liszt. Van Cliburn began lessons at age 3, after his mother found him at the keyboard, uncannily mimicking one of her students.
She taught him to coax a rich, round tone from the piano, and to sing each phrase. "The human voice is the first instrument," he said in a 2008 interview on National Public Radio. "When we go to play on a stage before an audience, we are there as a voice. It may be the piano, but it's still a voice."
His family moved to Kilgore, Texas, when he was 6. He debuted with the Houston Symphony when he was 12.
After earning his top prize in the Soviet Union, he traveled at a frenetic pace. In 1974, Mr. Cliburn's father and manager died, and after performing four more years to honor his outstanding commitments, Mr. Cliburn in 1978 took a nine-year hiatus from the stage.
Van Cliburn
Mr. Cliburn's mother, who lived with him until her death, was perhaps his best friend, said Richard Rodzinski, former executive director of the Van Cliburn Foundation, which runs the Van Cliburn competition.
In 1996, a man with whom Mr. Cliburn had a 17-year relationship filed a so-called "palimony" lawsuit against the pianist, seeking millions of dollars in cash and property. The suit was dismissed.
Friends described Mr. Cliburn as gentle, generous, and genuinely modest. He didn't teach, but mentored young soloists. He loved to entertain visiting musicians in his Fort Worth-area home, tend his rose garden and hear the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
In later years, he played in public occasionally, often in benefit concerts for organizations he supported.
In 1987, Mr. Cliburn performed at a White House summit for President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, moving the Soviet leader, his wife and delegation to sing along to a spontaneous rendition of the Russian song, "Moscow Nights."
By JENNIFER MALONEYMr. Cliburn, who died Wednesday at age 78 near Fort Worth, Texas, according to the Associated press, stunned the world in 1958 when, soon after the Soviet Union had launched the first satellite in orbit, he won that country's first International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition—a contest intended to showcase local talent.
His 1958 recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 became the first classical album to sell more than 1 million copies. The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, for which he served as artistic adviser, became one of the world's most prestigious. He remains the only musician ever celebrated with a New York ticker-tape parade. Mr. Cliburn's affection for the Soviet people—and theirs for him—was notable in its warmth during a prolonged period of superpower strain.
Van Cliburn's Great Performances
At the 1958 competition, the Soviets were enraptured by the emotive interpretations of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff that poured forth from the lanky, young Texan—then 23 years old.
After Mr. Cliburn earned roaring ovations, the Soviet ministry of culture relayed concerns to a Communist Party official. She went to the Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev, according to Mr. Khrushchev's son, Sergei Khrushchev, a professor at Brown University.
"The jury says the American is the best, but…," the official began, leaving the political quandary unsaid.
"Is the American really the best?" Mr. Khrushchev asked.
He was, she replied.
"So you have to give him the prize," the Soviet leader said, according to his son.
Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr. was born in Shreveport, La. His father was an oil executive, and his mother, Rildia Bee O'Bryan Cliburn, a piano teacher who had studied with a pupil of Franz Liszt. Van Cliburn began lessons at age 3, after his mother found him at the keyboard, uncannily mimicking one of her students.
She taught him to coax a rich, round tone from the piano, and to sing each phrase. "The human voice is the first instrument," he said in a 2008 interview on National Public Radio. "When we go to play on a stage before an audience, we are there as a voice. It may be the piano, but it's still a voice."
His family moved to Kilgore, Texas, when he was 6. He debuted with the Houston Symphony when he was 12.
After earning his top prize in the Soviet Union, he traveled at a frenetic pace. In 1974, Mr. Cliburn's father and manager died, and after performing four more years to honor his outstanding commitments, Mr. Cliburn in 1978 took a nine-year hiatus from the stage.
Van Cliburn
Mr. Cliburn's mother, who lived with him until her death, was perhaps his best friend, said Richard Rodzinski, former executive director of the Van Cliburn Foundation, which runs the Van Cliburn competition.
In 1996, a man with whom Mr. Cliburn had a 17-year relationship filed a so-called "palimony" lawsuit against the pianist, seeking millions of dollars in cash and property. The suit was dismissed.
Friends described Mr. Cliburn as gentle, generous, and genuinely modest. He didn't teach, but mentored young soloists. He loved to entertain visiting musicians in his Fort Worth-area home, tend his rose garden and hear the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
In later years, he played in public occasionally, often in benefit concerts for organizations he supported.
In 1987, Mr. Cliburn performed at a White House summit for President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, moving the Soviet leader, his wife and delegation to sing along to a spontaneous rendition of the Russian song, "Moscow Nights."
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