ShareThisBy MARC SHULGOLD
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Van Cliburn may not have been born to play the piano _ but by age 5, he knew his fate.
"When I was 3," the renowned pianist recalled, "my mother found me at the keyboard imitating one of her students." Lessons soon began.
Two years later, Rhilda Bee Cliburn had a heart-to-heart with her precocious son. "She told me, 'If you're going to be a performer, you'll know that when you're small.' I then told my parents that I was going to be a concert pianist."
Now 72, the long, tall Texan remains an important presence in the music world _ giving only 10 to 15 performances a year, but at each one receiving a hero's welcome.
Capturing the gold at the first Tchaikovsky Competition 46 years ago made Cliburn an instant celebrity. Yet, he soon proved to be more than a one-hit wonder.
His orchestral and recital repertoire grew, and he has remained a fixture in the world's concert halls. As he understood as a boy, the stage forever beckons.
Cliburn's old-world approach to playing is undiminished. Even his signature work, the Tchaikovsky First Concerto, remains fresh and exciting.
"That's the beauty of classical music," he noted. "Each time, you feel it's your first time playing a piece."
He points to the Grieg Concerto. "I learned it when I was 12, the same year I first performed the Tchaikovsky. And it still remains a new experience for me.
"That's how you tell if a work is a masterpiece: Each time you hear it, you discover something you hadn't noticed before. With each note of the Grieg, I realize that the composer couldn't have possibly gone any other way."
All these years later, the instruction he received from his mother and from the great Juilliard teacher Rosina Lhevinne continues to guide his playing. "Their voices reverberate," Cliburn said.
"They taught me to find the thrust of the sound, and to choose a tempo that's understandable. To make the music distinct and clear."
Without hesitation, the pianist aligns himself philosophically with the great pianists of the past: Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff.
"I'm old-fashioned, I suppose," he confessed. "I got that from my mother, who studied with Arthur Friedheim _ who was a student of Liszt. Her playing always inspired me."
Over the years, he has found inspiration from many sources. Which brings us back to the Grieg.
"In 1961, I performed in Norway _ visiting Oslo, and then going to Bergen, Grieg's home. There was a singer performing some of his songs, and I strolled outside and stood there, looking at the sea.
"Memories like that help keep it fresh. Then, you return to the score. You seek out the beauty of the page, and the music will speak to you."
