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

<v Radio Host>This is a presentation of KERA Dallas Fort Worth. <v Radio Host>The following program is made possible by grants from the Mobil Oil Corporation <v Radio Host>and Tandy Corporation, RadioShack. <v Radio Host>[orchestral music plays] <v Radio Host>The road to a great international piano competition begins many years before <v Radio Host>the event itself. In homes across the world, a familiar scene is <v Radio Host>repeated. <v Speaker>[background chatter and playing from piano rehearsal] <v Piano Teacher>Do it again. <v Radio Host>A talented child takes piano lessons with a watchful teacher becoming <v Radio Host>a kind of musical parent. <v Radio Host>Unlike other children who start music lessons, this young pianist persists long

<v Radio Host>after the others have given up. <v Radio Host>Hours and hours of practicing grow into weeks and months. <v Radio Host>Instead of childish 5-finger exercises, the young pianist now ventures <v Radio Host>into the world of great musical literature. <v Radio Host>[piano plays] Soon, <v Radio Host>there are the first recitals in a large living room or perhaps a school auditorium. <v Radio Host>The young pianist is cheered on by adoring relatives and friends. <v Radio Host>By the teenage years, school and friends now must fit around an essential <v Radio Host>activity: the solitary concentration of hours at the piano. <v Radio Host>Parties are passed up. Dances are missed. <v Radio Host>But as the child grows into a young adult, the rewards of all that effort become <v Radio Host>apparent. This is an exceptional young musician. <v Radio Host>[piano plays] <v Radio Host>There are prizes at local and regional competitions, and soon the first

<v Radio Host>concerto performances with orchestra. <v Radio Host>A select group of enormously gifted young musicians around the world now begin <v Radio Host>to concentrate on a singular goal: to win the gold medal at <v Radio Host>a major international competition. <v Radio Host>Across the world, the preparations intensify. <v Radio Host>There is new repertory to be learned. <v Radio Host>Familiar works to be restudied and always the countless hours alone <v Radio Host>at the piano. Finally, the long-awaited event is at hand, <v Radio Host>a culmination of years of dreams and hopes. <v Radio Host>[orchestra plays] <v Radio Host>From Fort Worth, Texas, KERA and American Public Radio <v Radio Host>present the finals of the 7th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. <v Radio Host>Here's your host for the evening, Steve Allen. <v Steve Allen>Thank you. Good evening and welcome to the theater center of the Tarrant County

<v Steve Allen>Convention Center here in Fort Worth. <v Steve Allen>Tonight will conclude the final round of this seventh Van Cliburn International Piano <v Steve Allen>Competition. In the last 2 nights we've already heard 4 <v Steve Allen>of the 6 finalists left in the competition. <v Steve Allen>On this concert, we'll be hearing the remaining 2. <v Steve Allen>These 6 finalists were selected out of the original field of 36, chosen <v Steve Allen>to take part in the competition. <v Steve Allen>They are Philippe Bianconi from France, Barry Douglas from the United Kingdom, <v Steve Allen>Northern Ireland, José Feghali from Brazil, Károly Mocsári <v Steve Allen>from Hungary, Emma Tahmizian from Bulgaria, and Hans-Christian <v Steve Allen>Wille from West Germany in this final round. <v Steve Allen>Each of the finalists plays 2 complete concertos, one with the Fort Worth <v Steve Allen>Chamber Orchestra and one with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. <v Steve Allen>The conductor for all of these performances has been Stanisław Skrowaczewski. <v Steve Allen>Tonight, we'll be hearing Hans-Christian Wille from West Germany and Philippe Bianconi

<v Steve Allen>from France playing concertos by Beethoven, Mozart, Prokofiev, <v Steve Allen>and Brahms. <v Steve Allen>After these performances are over tonight, the jury will then deliberate late into the <v Steve Allen>night and through tomorrow morning, if necessary, for all eternity, I guess, if <v Steve Allen>necessary, to determine the top prize winners of this competition. <v Steve Allen>There's a great deal at stake here. Quite seriously, for the 6 finalists, the gold <v Steve Allen>medalist stands to win a prize valued in excess of 200 thousand dollars, <v Steve Allen>not only a 12000 dollar cash prize, but a Carnegie Hall debut, a major <v Steve Allen>recording contract, appearances with many of the world's leading orchestras <v Steve Allen>and international concert engagements for 2 and a half years following the competition. <v Steve Allen>As a result, what we have ahead of us tonight is, of course, first and foremost, a <v Steve Allen>splendid concert. But the underlying tension and suspense of the event <v Steve Allen>is never far from the surface. <v Steve Allen>As we've been saying throughout, we've come to regard the event of this final round as a <v Steve Allen>sort of musical thriller, suspense story in 4 acts:

<v Steve Allen>3 nights of performances, and finally, the mystery solved at the winners' <v Steve Allen>ceremony on Sunday. <v Steve Allen>Tonight's concert will begin in roughly half an hour. <v Steve Allen>And so in the time we have before them, we'll have a chance to meet 1 of our competitors, <v Steve Allen>Hans-Christian Wille, and we'll also recall for you some of the events <v Steve Allen>that led up to this final round. <v Steve Allen>Joining me again tonight, happily, is our commentator, Paul Hume, for many years, the <v Steve Allen>music critic of The Washington Post. <v Steve Allen>Hello again, Paul. <v Paul Hume>Evening, Steve. I'm looking forward to tonight when we hear 2 pianists we haven't heard <v Paul Hume>yet in these finals. <v Steve Allen>And as we near the end of the competition, the pressure begins to intensify, as I <v Steve Allen>was saying, not only on the performers, but also on the 11 members of the jury. <v Steve Allen>During the performances, they're seated in a specially partitioned section at the front <v Steve Allen>of the balcony. At this point in the competition, they've heard more than 60 hours <v Steve Allen>of performance. And remember, we're talking about a very demanding, highly <v Steve Allen>sophisticated level of critical listening.

<v Paul Hume>The members of the jury, Steve, are Turkish pianist Idil Biret, American <v Paul Hume>pianist Jorge Bolet, Bulgarian pianist and teacher Anton Dikov, <v Paul Hume>American pianist and prize winner Malcolm Frager, Hungarian conductor and <v Paul Hume>pianist Arpad Joó, Chinese pianist and teacher Li Ming-Qiang, <v Paul Hume>Japanese pianist Minoru Nojima, and here I want to correct something. <v Paul Hume>I have said twice that Mr. Nojima was a contestant in the first Cliburn. <v Paul Hume>He was a contestant in the third Cliburn. <v Paul Hume>And I know where I got confused there because I was remembering the distinguished <v Paul Hume>Japanese judge in the first competition whose name was Motonari Iguchi. <v Paul Hume>The remes- the rest of the jury include the French pianist Cécile Ousset, who was a <v Paul Hume>contestant in the first Cliburn competition. <v Paul Hume>The distinguished American critic, long with The New York Times, Harold Schonberg. <v Paul Hume>Swiss American pianist and teacher, Soulima Stravinsky, the son of the great composer <v Paul Hume>Igor Stravinsky. And by no means last or least, only last, <v Paul Hume>German author, critic and administrator Wolfgang Stresemann who was for nearly

<v Paul Hume>20 years the managing director of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. <v Steve Allen>The jury is chaired by John Giordano, music director and conductor of the <v Steve Allen>Fort Worth Symphony and Fort Worth Chamber Orchestras. <v Steve Allen>As a non-voting chairman, Mr. Giordano takes active part in the voting only in <v Steve Allen>the case of ties. <v Steve Allen>As in any jury decision, there are some highly subjective issues to be resolved <v Steve Allen>among people of differing temperament, sensibilities, and backgrounds. <v Steve Allen>Paul in your considerable experience as a competition juror, where <v Steve Allen>do the conflicts, uh the disagreements tend to occur if they do cluster in any one area <v Steve Allen>or in more? <v Paul Hume>Well, they occur in the most difficult areas to define, for instance, <v Paul Hume>that intangible but vital element of style. <v Paul Hume>There is a Mozart style, or perhaps we could say there are various <v Paul Hume>ways of playing Mozart, but there are outer limits within which pianists who <v Paul Hume>may take a different approach to Mozart, must meet certain requirements <v Paul Hume>that have come to us, first of all, from the music.

<v Paul Hume>But at the same time, it is a commonplace or truism to say that you can look at the <v Paul Hume>score and it's all there. True, the notes are there, but then as Rudolf Serkin said once, <v Paul Hume>and many others have said it, that's only the beginning. <v Paul Hume>And 2 pianists who look at the very same notes and come out with a very different <v Paul Hume>kind of performance. And the judges have to decide what in their opinion, <v Paul Hume>and they may have very different opinions of styles also, comes the closest <v Paul Hume>to what they think of as the best style. <v Paul Hume>But in addition to that, you do allow for differences. <v Paul Hume>Jorge Bolet suggested it when he said we're looking for something more than technical <v Paul Hume>assurance. Technique is a factual matter. <v Paul Hume>Missed notes or incomplete, inadequate, immature performance <v Paul Hume>of the big technical hazards in piano playing, whether we're talking about rapid <v Paul Hume>arpeggios or octaves or glissando or big chords or whatever, those you can hear <v Paul Hume>and they're there on the record, nowadays, of course, when all of these things are taped. <v Steve Allen>Another factor I would imagine is that at this level they all have, as we say in jazz, <v Steve Allen>great chops right?

<v Paul Hume>They all have great chops. Jorge Bolet said they all have computer techniques nowadays. <v Paul Hume>That is to say, they can play the notes, although we've heard some instances in these <v Paul Hume>finals where some of the pianists were running into trouble with the notes. <v Paul Hume>That's not always a- a put-down. <v Paul Hume>It depends on why they're having trouble with the notes. <v Paul Hume>Is it a basic musical immaturity or is it something that might be just a passing <v Paul Hume>affair? And there an experienced listener can tell. <v Paul Hume>Basically, it's how well each one captures the imagination of the listener, <v Paul Hume>and by what means. <v Steve Allen>I see. Well, we've been talking a great deal about the extraordinary tension here <v Steve Allen>and there's certainly no getting away from it. <v Steve Allen>I'm so tense, I just almost knocked over my music stand. [laughs] But again, very <v Steve Allen>seriously, this is a high powered international competition. <v Steve Allen>But since the very first Van Cliburn competition in 1962, the Fort Worth community <v Steve Allen>has worked extremely hard to assure that the visiting young pianists have a satisfying <v Steve Allen>personal experience, regardless of the competition's outcome. <v Steve Allen>Every one of the competitors, for example, is housed in a local host family home,

<v Steve Allen>which, during the course of the competition, the members of these families become a <v Steve Allen>surrogate personal family. <v Steve Allen>Our features producer Steve Proffitt has been spending the week behind the scenes of the <v Steve Allen>competition, and he had a chance to visit with one of these host families. <v Steve Proffitt>Harriet and Haywood Clemens are a Fort Worth couple who've long been involved with the <v Steve Proffitt>Van Cliburn. Haywood is on the Finance Committee. <v Steve Proffitt>Harriet, who is herself a pianist, has been a volunteer for the competition almost <v Steve Proffitt>since its inception. This year, they're hosting one of the semifinalists, Hans-Christian <v Steve Proffitt>Wille. This is the third time the Clemens have hosted a Van Cliburn competitor. <v Steve Proffitt>And each experience, they say, has been an interesting one. <v Haywood Clemens>As the parents of 3 sons and grandparents <v Haywood Clemens>of 4 boys, we have always had a preference <v Haywood Clemens>for a boy, for a male contestant. <v Haywood Clemens>Beca- and they almost become one of the family before the competition is over. <v Harriet Clemens>You see to all the little extras that they need their clothing.

<v Harriet Clemens>There are a lot of hopes that are riding on this particular thing. <v Harriet Clemens>And not everyone is going to win. <v Harriet Clemens>So you have to be prepared to- to hold some head <v Harriet Clemens>ups, you know. <v Steve Proffitt>As a host family, the Clemens provide their guests with meals, clean clothes, <v Steve Proffitt>rides to and from the concert hall and a place to take refuge from the rigors <v Steve Proffitt>of the competition. Each host family must provide a piano for their guests. <v Steve Proffitt>And though it might seem wonderful to have an accomplished pianist practicing in your <v Steve Proffitt>living room, Harriet Clemens says she's rarely heard one of her guests play a piece all <v Steve Proffitt>the way through. <v Harriet Clemens>The thing you hear most of all are certain phrases and certain passages <v Harriet Clemens>played over and over and over again, where you feel sometimes as if <v Harriet Clemens>you could go down and play it, too. <v Harriet Clemens>And of course, this is- this is what they have to do. <v Harriet Clemens>They are honing the product. <v Steve Proffitt>Although this is the first time the Clemens have hosted a competitor who's made it into <v Steve Proffitt>the semifinals, all the contestants are invited to remain in Fort Worth if they're

<v Steve Proffitt>eliminated in the early rounds. <v Haywood Clemens>Oh we certainly make them feel welcomed to stay the balance of the <v Haywood Clemens>competition. And- <v Harriet Clemens>I think it is very important if they feel that they can do so for <v Harriet Clemens>them to stay, because there are many, many things that are offered for them <v Harriet Clemens>as far as their career advancement is concerned. <v Harriet Clemens>There are agents here. There are many contacts with- <v Harriet Clemens>with people in the musical world, I mean, it's just such an opportunity <v Harriet Clemens>for them whether they win or not. <v Steve Proffitt>The homey hospitality extends all the way to the concert hall, where since <v Steve Proffitt>1962, Eddie Maude Smith has been lending a sympathetic ear and <v Steve Proffitt>an understanding smile to competitors in moments of anguish and triumph. <v Eddie Maude Smith>The title they have given me is Backstage Mother, and I guess that's really <v Eddie Maude Smith>what it involves. [laughs] <v Steve Proffitt>Smith distributes fresh-squeezed orange juice, handkerchiefs for mopping the brows <v Steve Proffitt>of the contestants, and she even provides a heating pad to warm the chilly

<v Steve Proffitt>hands of the nervous competitors. <v Steve Proffitt>Smith says that her role also requires her to practice a little amateur psychiatry. <v Eddie Maude Smith>What I usually try to do is to determine as quickly as I can whether they want to talk <v Eddie Maude Smith>out their nervousness or be left alone. <v Eddie Maude Smith>Fortunately, I haven't made too many mistakes, only 1 or 2 maybe, where I <v Eddie Maude Smith>misjudged um what they wanted and usually maybe <v Eddie Maude Smith>just a touch on the arm, or <v Eddie Maude Smith>just- just a glance maybe sometime. <v Steve Proffitt>The executive director of the Van Cliburn, Andrew Raeburn, says the policy <v Steve Proffitt>of placing pianists in private homes adds to the quality of the competitor's <v Steve Proffitt>performance. Raeburn points out that it also gives folks in Fort Worth the chance <v Steve Proffitt>to understand the lifestyles of people with different national and cultural backgrounds. <v Andrew Raeburn>There's nothing like having somebody in your house as a guest to get to know them very <v Andrew Raeburn>fast. And from the point of view of the competitors themselves,

<v Andrew Raeburn>there's something absolutely wonderful about being able to experience the <v Andrew Raeburn>warmth and hospitality and genuine goodwill <v Andrew Raeburn>of the- of the people of this country. <v Steve Proffitt>Although the contestants are very busy, the Clemens say that there's always a little time <v Steve Proffitt>for some sightseeing. Billy Bob's The Nightclub, which bills itself as the world's <v Steve Proffitt>largest honky-tonk, is a popular stop. <v Steve Proffitt>And most self-respecting Van Cliburn competitors wouldn't think of leaving <v Steve Proffitt>town without picking up a little something in the way of Fort Worth fashion. <v Harriet Clemens>One of the main things that they all like to do is get a pair of cowboy <v Harriet Clemens>boots and go to the Western Stowers and that is a <v Harriet Clemens>little trip we are going to be sure and plan this year. <v Steve Proffitt>Harriott and Haywood Clemens say perhaps the greatest satisfaction in being a host <v Steve Proffitt>family is the long term friendships that are created during what is often <v Steve Proffitt>one of the most trying periods in a young pianist's life.

<v Haywood Clemens>Probably the most rewarding, richly rewarding thing is <v Haywood Clemens>getting to know these young artists well. <v Haywood Clemens>And not just that they're artists, but they're young man developing <v Haywood Clemens>their careers. <v Haywood Clemens>Listening to their ambitions and frustrations and just <v Haywood Clemens>becoming close friends with them. <v Haywood Clemens>I think that's probably the most rewarding thing of all. <v Steve Allen>Yes. That's very sweet to hear about all that. <v Steve Allen>The report was prepared by Steve Proffitt. <v Steve Allen>And Steve visited with the Clemens earlier in the week. <v Steve Allen>Hans-Christian Wille has advanced to the finals of the competition. <v Steve Allen>And indeed, in about 20 minutes, we'll be hearing him, in the first of tonight's <v Steve Allen>performances from the final round of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition. <v Steve Allen>I think it's safe to assume that both Harriet and Haywood Clemens are here in the hall. <v Steve Allen>Perhaps they're backstage now with Mr. Wille.

<v Steve Allen>In any case, I'm sure they'll be listening to his performances tonight with all the <v Steve Allen>anticipation and nervousness that any parent would feel in a <v Steve Allen>similar situation. <v Steve Allen>Tonight is the last of 3 nights of concerto performances. <v Steve Allen>We'll be hearing 2 finalists: Hans-Christian Wille, West Germany, and uh Philippe <v Steve Allen>Bianconi of France. The judges have already heard each finalist for nearly 3 <v Steve Allen>solid hours in the preliminary and semifinal round. <v Steve Allen>On tonight's broadcast, we'll go back and hear some of those early-round performances <v Steve Allen>by both finalists in order to provide you some background on what has led to <v Steve Allen>their presence here in the finals. <v Paul Hume>Steve, let's begin with Hans-Christian Wille, about whom we've just been hearing. <v Paul Hume>He's 27 years old. He was born in Braunschweig, in West Germany. <v Paul Hume>He's a graduate of the Hochschule für Musik in Hannover. <v Paul Hume>His teachers have included Karl-Heinz Kämmerling and the famous French teacher, Vlado <v Paul Hume>Perlemuter. In 1978, a year in which Wille entered 3 competitions, <v Paul Hume>he won first prize in 2 of them, including the first prize in the Munich International

<v Paul Hume>Competition, which is 1 of the most prestigious among the big international contests. <v Paul Hume>Let's listen now to a performance recorded during Wille's first preliminary round recital <v Paul Hume>2 weeks ago. And here he is playing the ballade number 2 in F Major by <v Paul Hume>Chopin. <v Speaker>[Hans-Christian Wille plays Chopin's ballade number 2 in F Major]. <v Steve Allen>Beautiful.

<v Paul Hume>That was the Chopin F Major ballade, played by the young German pianist Hans-Christian <v Paul Hume>Wille, in a performance taken from the preliminary round of this 1985 <v Paul Hume>Van Cliburn competition. <v Paul Hume>It's part of the impressive round of performances that led to Mr. Wille's selection as a <v Paul Hume>competition finalist. <v Steve Allen>Hans-Christian Wille at 27, Paul, would seem to be one of the most mature competitors. <v Steve Allen>He's certainly a thoughtful and articulate young man. <v Steve Allen>Earlier in the week, he spoke with our reporter, Craig Allen. <v Hans-Christian Wille>In this competition, well, if you- if you're successful, you'll get such a lot of <v Hans-Christian Wille>concerts. These concerts, you can make enough money and you can- you can give <v Hans-Christian Wille>back the money of the prize to the foundation, to the competition <v Hans-Christian Wille>for a special prize for very gifted people. <v Hans-Christian Wille>So it would be a possibility to give back the money to- to the foundation. <v Craig Allen>Do you prefer being the only one on stage or do you like playing in the concerto <v Craig Allen>with an orchestra with you or? <v Hans-Christian Wille>Well, that always depends to- to the ensemble you're supposed to play with. <v Hans-Christian Wille>For instance, if [laugh] the orchestra is bad, I would like to kick them from the stage,

<v Hans-Christian Wille>but well, that- that never happened. <v Hans-Christian Wille>But, um, well, it's quite a different thing when you- when you are very <v Hans-Christian Wille>alone on the stage. You have to build this bridge to the audience, <v Hans-Christian Wille>um which is harder than if you're together with an ensemble or orchestra. <v Hans-Christian Wille>But sometimes it's- it's very good to have some- something your back, for instance, as <v Hans-Christian Wille>an orchestra, which- which gives you more power. <v Hans-Christian Wille>And piano concerto can be something which is much more outstanding than a recital. <v Craig Allen>Obviously you're under a lot of pressure, all these past 2 weeks. <v Craig Allen>What do you do during the Van Cliburn, this competition, to try to relax? <v Hans-Christian Wille>I have a very good relations- relationship with my host family and <v Hans-Christian Wille>I have a very good relationship with the other German competitor, Thomas Duis. <v Hans-Christian Wille>At the first, very first day, we started these Ping-Pong matches. <v Hans-Christian Wille>We always do. And uh we relaxed and we- we went <v Hans-Christian Wille>for dancing and we were going for the new Bond

<v Hans-Christian Wille>movie and uh we had some bowling, the bowling place. <v Hans-Christian Wille>Always we- we do something together at the evening. <v Hans-Christian Wille>And well it's not- not only piano playing and I think I'm not one of <v Hans-Christian Wille>those contestants that practice 10 or more hours a day. <v Hans-Christian Wille>It's not- it's not the- the way to prepare a competition to practice <v Hans-Christian Wille>these 10 or more days during the competition, more <v Hans-Christian Wille>than 10 hours. It's- work has to be done before. <v Craig Allen>It's too late now. <v Hans-Christian Wille>It's too late now, sure. <v Craig Allen>Exactly. I see. What- what do you do now, another question: <v Craig Allen>you're backstage right before you go onstage. <v Craig Allen>What do you think about or what do you do to relax? <v Hans-Christian Wille>Sometimes- sometimes I do and I did this- what is <v Hans-Christian Wille>it- crossword to relax a little bit, but, um. <v Hans-Christian Wille>Well, for instance, for the Brahms quintet, we rehearsed a little bit.

<v Hans-Christian Wille>We- we overdid it a little bit to- to- to- to become relaxed. <v Hans-Christian Wille>I don't like to- to- to play till the last moment when they asked me to- to appear on the <v Hans-Christian Wille>stage. Usually I- I'm wearing some gloves and then <v Hans-Christian Wille>I'm walking up and down and concentrating. <v Craig Allen>Oh why the gloves? <v Hans-Christian Wille>Perhaps when it's cold, because I have some problems with these air-conditioned rooms. <v Hans-Christian Wille>Then I get some cold fingers. And so I'm wearing the gloves. <v Craig Allen>Compare the Van Cliburn competition to the other competitions you have been in. <v Hans-Christian Wille>The Van Cliburn is a very special competition, because <v Hans-Christian Wille>the way how everything is arranged is- is different to other competitions. <v Hans-Christian Wille>You know, for instance, if this kind of competition type of competition <v Hans-Christian Wille>is in- is done in Germany, for instance, everything is paid by the government. <v Hans-Christian Wille>There are no private companies, they're going to pay anything. <v Hans-Christian Wille>Um, but this competition

<v Hans-Christian Wille>is, I think, 100 percent paid by companies and by <v Hans-Christian Wille>donor- what- what do you say? Donors? Honors? <v Craig Allen>Private- private donors. <v Hans-Christian Wille>Private donors and so they get much more money for everything. <v Hans-Christian Wille>And there are such, such a lot of people they- <v Hans-Christian Wille>they are volunteers and they help this competition. <v Steve Allen>That was Hans-Christian Wille in conversation with Craig Allen. <v Steve Allen>Uh Mr. Wille is, as we've mentioned, one of the 2 finalists who share tonight's concerto <v Steve Allen>program. As we approach this first performance in the finals of the Van <v Steve Allen>Cliburn International Piano Competition, the members of the audience here at the theater <v Steve Allen>center in Fort Worth are taking their seats, as you may be able to hear. <v Steve Allen>We expect a capacity crowd again. <v Steve Allen>Tickets for these final performances and for the winners' ceremony tomorrow <v Steve Allen>have been sold out weeks in advance. <v Steve Allen>As we've mentioned, there were 6 finalists and they're the subject now of <v Steve Allen>much speculation as we near the end of the competition.

<v Steve Allen>Tonight, we'll be hearing from 2 of them, Hans-Christian Wille and Philippe Bianconi. <v Steve Allen>In the first half of the program, they'll be joined by the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, <v Steve Allen>led by Stanisław Skrowaczewski. <v Steve Allen>And to open the program, Hans-Christian Wille will play the Beethoven concerto number 2 <v Steve Allen>in B-flat major, Opus 19. <v Steve Allen>Then we'll hear the Mozart concerto number 24, in C minor, <v Steve Allen>K 491, played by Philippe Bianconi. <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, but first we pause briefly for station <v Steve Allen>identification. This is the American Public Radio Network. <v Steve Allen>Welcome back to the- at the moment, increasingly noisy theater center

<v Steve Allen>of the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, for this finals program <v Steve Allen>from the 1985 Van Cliburn Competition. <v Steve Allen>I'm Steve Allen with music critic and commentator Paul Hume. <v Steve Allen>In a few moments, we'll be hearing our first competitor, who will be Hans-Christian Wille <v Steve Allen>from West Germany. Paul, we have quite an international cast of players here in the <v Steve Allen>finals. Musicians from Brazil, Hungary, France, Bulgaria, <v Steve Allen>Northern Ireland, and West Germany. <v Steve Allen>Are there any stylistic differences in their playing that can be attributed to geography? <v Paul Hume>No, not really, Steve, at least not in most of those cases. <v Paul Hume>There are certain music centers in the world. <v Paul Hume>They reach to Japan and Korea, which are sending increasing numbers of distinguished <v Paul Hume>pianists and string players around. <v Paul Hume>But in Brazil, the custom has been that with government support, the most promising young <v Paul Hume>musicians after a start there have gone to Europe, either to Paris or to <v Paul Hume>London to study. Hungary has a long tradition, of course, we've spoken of the Lizst <v Paul Hume>Academy, but stylistic differences?

<v Paul Hume>[applause] No, except perhaps the fact that there is a certain tradition <v Paul Hume>in French teaching that has continued a certain kind of playing <v Paul Hume>from many French players, though by no means all. <v Paul Hume>Robert Casadesus played very differently, say from today's Philippe Entremont. <v Paul Hume>In Northern Ireland, in uh West Germany, you have <v Paul Hume>a strong tradition, of course, in music going way back through the German composers, but <v Paul Hume>not in Northern Ireland. It's interesting that Barry Douglas began [applause] his study <v Paul Hume>there and then moved down to London studying with the same teacher there with whom Mr. <v Paul Hume>Feghali has studied. So there is not a strong difference in geographical <v Paul Hume>backgrounds, in musical styles. <v Steve Allen>I see. Well, in just a few moments, Hans-Christian Wille will be on stage here at the <v Steve Allen>theater center of the Tarrant County Convention Center. <v Steve Allen>He'll play, as we've told you, the piano concerto number 2 in B-flat by Beethoven <v Steve Allen>with the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra conducted by Stanisław Skrowaczewski. <v Steve Allen>Paul, while we have perhaps just a few more moments, if you could fill us in on again <v Steve Allen>on some of Mr. Wille's background.

<v Paul Hume>Well, I've spoken of his birth and of his study, both with- with Vlado Perlemuto, <v Paul Hume>especially his earlier teacher being Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. <v Paul Hume>I think it's interesting to point out, however, speaking of geography, to say what I've <v Paul Hume>said before, that there are no Americans remaining in these final sessions. <v Paul Hume>This is the first time in the Cliburn, I think maybe the second <v Paul Hume>time I'll check that and say for sure. <v Paul Hume>But there are no Americans in these finals. And interestingly, no Soviet entrants <v Paul Hume>where they have been some of the most brilliant contestants, both the Americans and the <v Paul Hume>Soviets in the past. And there, there are certain musical traditions. <v Paul Hume>[applause]. <v Steve Allen>You think the absence of the Soviets is largely political? <v Paul Hume>I think so. Not much question. The Soviet government is afraid of defections, of which <v Paul Hume>there been a number of prominent examples in recent years. <v Paul Hume>And we are not at the warmest stage in our relationship with the Soviet government. <v Paul Hume>And in the past, the Cold War has had a profound effect, either the Cold War or the <v Paul Hume>absence of the Cold War. <v Steve Allen>Yes.

<v Steve Allen>We've made in a number of instances because inevitably with a <v Steve Allen>million people listening around the nation, there are people of varying degrees of <v Steve Allen>sophistication about uh serious music, including at 1 extreme, <v Steve Allen>people who know very little about it. <v Steve Allen>And therefore, we've discovered that analogies with sports are sometimes helpful by way <v Steve Allen>of clarification. In certain sports, you are considered old <v Steve Allen>at well, 30. Once you get past 30, if you're a prizefighter, you're sort of on <v Steve Allen>the way to being over the hill. <v Steve Allen>In other fields, of course, one is still a young man. <v Steve Allen>Could a great pianist play as well at, say, 70 as he could <v Steve Allen>at 20? <v Paul Hume>Pianists age very well. There are certain brilliant examples of that. <v Paul Hume>Artur Rubinstein played well up into his 80s. <v Paul Hume>There are- there is a trio now which is just beginning to retire from their playing <v Paul Hume>in their 80s. Vladimir Horowitz in his early 80s, Claudio Arrau in his early <v Paul Hume>80s. And Rudolf Serkin, who will be 82 this year, still playing beautifully.

<v Paul Hume>There may not be the physical power and in certain cases, some kinds of physical <v Paul Hume>and technical brilliance at a later age. <v Paul Hume>But pianists are very fortunate where string players are in trouble by the time, say, <v Paul Hume>they get to 70 or so. <v Steve Allen>Ah. <v Paul Hume>Pianists quite consistently go on, just as conductors do. <v Paul Hume>It's- it's a very interesting phenomenon and a very real one. <v Paul Hume>I was interested, in fact, by the way, Steve, that the program we're hearing tonight is <v Paul Hume>exactly the same as the program we heard Thursday night. <v Paul Hume>The same 4 concertos, only a slight difference in order. <v Paul Hume>But the Beethoven to the Mozart C minor, the Prokofiev 3 and the Brahms D minor <v Paul Hume>are what our pianist played for us on Thursday night. <v Paul Hume>Other pianists, of course, and in connection with that, which, of course, is a matter of <v Paul Hume>repertoire selection, I was noticing that Mr. Wille, whom we are about to hear, <v Paul Hume>has a somewhat wider repertoire in the music he brought to the preliminaries <v Paul Hume>and his recital program than some of the other pianists. <v Paul Hume>For instance, Mr. Wille played or was ready to play if the judges had asked for it, <v Paul Hume>the Great piano sonata of Alberto Ginastera, the Bartók Sonata, a

<v Paul Hume>Debussy étude and so forth. So he's a man with a wide interest in music, <v Paul Hume>music of his own time and music ranging far beyond any certain <v Paul Hume>Germanic field. <v Steve Allen>The traditional A is being shared with the orchestra now. <v Steve Allen>Tuning up time. <v Paul Hume>I wonder if Mr. Wille has been out and check the height of the piano stool or if that's <v Paul Hume>something- by the way, I have seen pianists who were the last persons to sit on a piano <v Paul Hume>stool, so you would think it would be at the height they wanted it, come out on the stage <v Paul Hume>and sit there and then readjust it. And I've wondered sometimes if they decided they were <v Paul Hume>going to sit a little differently, you know. So it's a very subtle matter, the height at <v Paul Hume>which the pianist sits before the keyboard. <v Steve Allen>Oh indeed. <v Paul Hume>And there have been tremendous variance in that. <v Steve Allen>Well, the artists are [applause] yes, coming out now, and the members of the Fort Worth <v Steve Allen>Chamber Orchestra, of course, have already taken their places on stage. <v Steve Allen>And here now on stage is Hans-Christian Wille, followed by conductor Stanisław

<v Steve Allen>Skrowaczewski. And we'll hear the piano concerto number 2 in B flat major by <v Steve Allen>Beethoven.