Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; No. 1; Part 3

<v Steve Allen>Welcome back to the theater center in Fort Worth as we continue with live coverage <v Steve Allen>of the finals of the 1985 Van Cliburn Piano Competition. <v Steve Allen>I'm Steve Allen, and with me is Paul Hume. <v Steve Allen>On stage now, we had expected to see the piano change, but it's the same instrument, <v Steve Allen>readied now [applause] for our second finalist, Barry Douglas from United Kingdom, <v Steve Allen>Northern Ireland. He will play the Beethoven Second Concerto with, again, <v Steve Allen>Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra. <v Steve Allen>You'll hear the piano concerto number 2 in B-flat, Opus 19 by Beethoven. <v Speaker>[Barry Douglas performs Beethoven's Second Concerto] <v Steve Allen>Very exciting. We've heard the Piano Concerto Number 2 and B-flat,

<v Steve Allen>Opus 19 by Beethoven soloist was Barry Douglas, <v Steve Allen>accompanied by the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra conducted by Stanisław Skrowaczewski. <v Steve Allen>His performance is part of the finals of the 1985 Van Cliburn Competition, <v Steve Allen>coming to you live in Fort Worth, Texas. <v Steve Allen>There are, as we've told you, 6 finalists, each of whom played 2 <v Steve Allen>concertos in this concluding round of the competit- competition. <v Steve Allen>There's a lot at stake in these performances. <v Steve Allen>The gold medalist of this competition will win one of the richest prizes in all of music, <v Steve Allen>valued at more than 200000 dollars and including a cash prize, <v Steve Allen>recording contract, Carnegie Hall debut, and major concert engagements across <v Steve Allen>the world. <v Steve Allen>Very exciting. <v Paul Hume>Steve, um Barry Douglas has very interesting background. <v Paul Hume>Born and raised in Belfast, he stayed there till he was 18, studying at the Belfast <v Paul Hume>School of Music for 8 years.

<v Paul Hume>Then he moved to London, where he studied for 4 years at the Royal College of Music. <v Paul Hume>And I- he- I had already said that he and one of the contestants we're going to hear <v Paul Hume>tomorrow night, José Feghali from Brazil, both studied with the same teacher in London. <v Paul Hume>I think it's very interesting that we're getting 2 products of what must have been first <v Paul Hume>class teaching by Maria Curcio-Diamand in this competition. <v Paul Hume>He is now 25 years old and among his prizes is a very significant one <v Paul Hume>that he got here in Fort Worth 4 years ago when he was awarded the Sixth Van <v Paul Hume>Cliburn International Piano Competition Jury Discretionary Award. <v Paul Hume>They don't have to give that prize. They give it only when they think there is a young <v Paul Hume>artist of great promise. And they gave it at their discretion 4 years ago. <v Paul Hume>And tonight we're hearing the vindication of that award. <v Steve Allen>Indeed, he certainly has fulfilled promise to a remarkable degree. <v Steve Allen>Remarkably clean technique. <v Paul Hume>Clean and stylistically and pianistically, I think, very incisive and very musical. <v Paul Hume>This was quite a performance. Things are heating up, aren't they? <v Paul Hume>[laughs]. <v Steve Allen>Yes. The plot is indeed thickening. <v Steve Allen>Now, we've met and heard the second contender in the finals of this competition.

<v Steve Allen>Paul, if you were a member of the jury, what would you be thinking now, having heard <v Steve Allen>these 2 performances? <v Paul Hume>Well, I would know that on a scale of 1 to 10, I know where I would mark the first <v Paul Hume>pianist we've heard in the first of her two performances, remembering that we're still <v Paul Hume>going to hear her in the Prokofiev third. <v Paul Hume>And I also know exactly where on a scale of 1 to 10, I would put Mr. Douglas, who is <v Paul Hume>still going to play for us, one of the biggest, most testing of concertos, the Brahms <v Paul Hume>D-minor. So we'll see. <v Steve Allen>Well, after intermission, we'll have a second chance to get these 2 young artists, as you <v Steve Allen>were saying. They'll both return to play again, this time with Stanisław Skrowaczewski <v Steve Allen>conducting the full Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. <v Steve Allen>Emma Tahmizian will be playing the Prokov- Prokofiev Third <v Steve Allen>Concerto and Barry Douglas, the Brahms first, as Paul has just mentioned. <v Steve Allen>This live broadcast from the 7th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition <v Steve Allen>is made possible by grants from the Mobil Oil Corporation and Tandy Corporation, <v Steve Allen>RadioShack. We'll return in a moment.

<v Steve Allen>But first, we pause for station identification. <v Steve Allen>This is the American Public Radio Network.