The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Pianist Van Cliburn, an icon of American classical music, died today at 78.
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By Jacob Stockinger
These days, “icon” is an overused word.
But it certainly applies in the case of American pianist Van Cliburn (below). For five decade, he was ever-present in the mind of classical music fans ever since he won, against all odds, the first Tchaikovsky International Competition in 1958, held in Moscow during the height of The Cold War.
I have written before about Cliburn, who died today at 78 after a long battle with bone cancer.
Here is one posting about the controversy that surrounded his playing:
https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/classical-music-how-good-was-pianist-van-cliburn/
Here is the most important blog posting, and be sure to reader the many intelligent and deeply felt comments by readers:
There are many reasons to like him and his playing. Not for nothing was he the first classical musician to ask and get a concert fee of $10,000 for one night;s performance.
But if you asked me to sum it up, I would say: Van Cliburn made every note come from some place and go to another place, and he always developed a logic – melodic, harmonic or rhythmic — to a particular phrase or passage.
His Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 (below, the first classical recording to sell 1 million copies) and his Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 remain for me the best, the absolute best, versions ever recorded.
I didn’t like his Brahms or Schumann so much, but I liked much of his Chopin — hear the Nocturne he plays at the bottom in a YouTube video — and I adored his playing of Edward MacDowell‘s Piano Concerto No. 2, which also remains definitive for me.
His personal and professional story proved fascinating and courageous as well as inspiring to many young musicians, including myself. (Below is the 23-year-old Van Cliburn in the ticker tape parade he received in New York City after his win in Moscow.)
Here are links to some important obituaries and stories. You’ll find many memorable quotes and many unforgettable facts as well as some wonderful photos from all stages of his life and career:
From The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/arts/music/van-cliburn-pianist-dies-at-78.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
From the Associated Press:
http://entertainment.time.com/2013/02/27/van-cliburn-american-classical-pianist-dies/
From The Dallas Morning News:
From the Houston Star-Telegram, the first a story and the second, a life in photos:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/02/27/4647640/van-cliburn-dies.html
http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/02/27/4647679/van-cliburn-dead-at-78.html
From National Public Radio:
From The Los Angeles Times:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-van-cliburn-obit-20130227,0,6919189.story
From The Washington Post:
From CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/27/showbiz/van-cliburn-obit/?hpt=en_c2
From USA TODAY:
What would you like to say on Van Cliburn’s passing? Leave a COMMENT.
What is your favorite recording of Cliburn’s?
Tags: Associated Press, Brahms, Chopin, Classical music, Cliburn, Edward MacDowell, Fort Worth Texas, International Tchaikovsky Competition, Jacob Stockinger, Moscow, New York City, New York Times, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Tchaikovsky International Competition, United States, Van Cliburn, YouTube
Classical music: It is Wagner Week with the Middleton Community Orchestra tonight and the Metropolitan Opera’s “Live in HD” production of “Parsifal” with German tenor Jonas Kaufmann this Saturday.
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By Jacob Stockinger
It almost seems like Wagner Week in Madison, a good time to start this year’s bicentennial celebration of the birth of the still controversial and larger-than-life composer.
Tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Middleton Performing Arts Center that is attached to Middleton High School, the Middleton Community Orchestra (below) will perform two well-known excerpts: “Elsa’s Procession” from “Lohengrin” and “Siegfried’s Funeral Music” from the last Ring opera, “Gotterdammering” or “The Twilight of the Gods.”
Admission is $10 adults, student are free. For information about tickets and joining or supporting the orchestra and about the program, visit:
http://middletoncommunityorchestra.org/concert_information
Then on this Saturday, the next production of “Live From the Met in HD” will offer Wagner’s last opera “Parsifal,” in an acclaimed updated staging by Francois Girard for the Metropolitan Opera, at the Point and Eastgate cinemas.
Much of the music by Wagner (below) is hauntingly beautiful — I love the Prelude — though at 5 hour and 40 minutes, it will be a long, long afternoon, starting at 11 a.m. and ending at almost 5 p.m.
The title role of the innocent Knight of the Round Table who quests to find The Holy Grail will be sung by the young Munich-raised, German tenor Jonas Kaufman, which is pronounced “Yonas KaufmaHn.” (Below is a preview of his Kaufmann’s performance in “Parsifal” from a video on YouTube.)
And here is a review by senior critic Anthony Tommasini who calls the new production “brilliant”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/arts/music/parsifal-at-the-metropolitan-opera.html?_r=1&
Here is a link with more details, including a synopsis (if you can follow it) and a cast list as well as a video:
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/liveinhd/LiveinHD.aspx
Perhaps like me, you last saw Kaufman last season in the Met’s latest production of Wagner’s “The Ring.”
This young singer (below) seems to have everything. He is handsome and trim, so he is visually believable in both heroic and romantic roles on stage. He acts well. He sings superbly and beautifully. And to top it all off, he is smart and very articulate.
Decca has just released a terrific album by Kaufmann simply called “Wagner” (below) that includes music from all the major periods, early to late, of Wagner’s amazing artistic output. The music includes excerpts from The Ring and other operas as well as the early “Wesendonck Songs.”
Now, I am not a big Wagnerite, or a Wagnerite at all, really. Small doses do me just fine. I love his orchestral overtures more than I do his entire operas, which sit with me much like a 15-course dinner. For me, Wagner suffers from opera gourmandise.
But I am enthralled with Kaufmann’s Wagner, and think his album, in which Kaufmann is partnered with Donald Runnicles conducting the German State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, is a great candidate for a Grammy next year, much like Renee Fleming’s CD of French songs, which won this year.
Why do I like Kaufmann’s Wagner’s singing so much? Well, he always seems pitch-perfect, and I love his big sound and rich tone coupled to relative lack of vibrato. He never shows a sense of strain or exaggeration, which you cannot say of many Wagnerian Heldentenors.
Kaufmann’s talent seems so comprehensive and total. To me he is the perfect and natural blend of the Italian and German opera styles, of the lyrical and the profound. He should have a very great future. Perhaps Jonas Kaufmann is the German Pavarotti.
I am especially impressed by an interview he recently did on National Public Radio to promote his CD and the upcoming opera appearance. Kaufman recalls how he came to Wagner in his youth and in his family; but he also understands and does not shy away from the anti-Semitism of this great composer or how Hitler’s Third Reich used and abused Wagner. I like his candor, and his appeal to let the music speak for itself apart from the composer.
Here is a link to that interview:
I think Jonas Kaufmann’s time has come. The Ear predicts that this year or next, he will break out into The Really Big Time — and maybe even superstardom.
What do you think of Jonas Kauffman?
And of Wagner?
And, of course, of Jonas Kauffman’s new recording “Wagner”?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Donald Runnicles, François Girard, German, Holy Grail, Jacob Stockinger, Jonas Kaufmann, Kaufman, Kaufmann, Metropolitan Opera, NPR, Parsifal, Richard Wagner, Wagner, Wagnerite, YouTube
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