Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; No. 1; 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. [piano plays] <v Radio Host>Soon, there are the first recitals in a large living room or perhaps a school <v Radio Host>auditorium. 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 activity: <v Radio Host>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 is your host for the evening, Steve Allen. <v Steve Allen>Thank you and good evening, and welcome to the theater center of the Tarrant

<v Steve Allen>County Convention Center here in Fort Worth. <v Steve Allen>Tonight, we'll begin the final round of this 7th Van Cliburn International <v Steve Allen>Piano Competition, an event which is now approaching its dramatic conclusion. <v Steve Allen>2 weeks ago, 36 competitors from 17 countries around <v Steve Allen>the world gathered to begin the extraordinarily demanding cycle <v Steve Allen>of performances. As of today, the competition is pared down to <v Steve Allen>just 6 finalists. <v Steve Allen>And they are Philippe Bianconi from France, Barry Douglas <v Steve Allen>from the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, José Feghali from Brazil, <v Steve Allen>Károly Mocsári from Hungary, Emma Tahmizian <v Steve Allen>from Bulgaria, and Hans-Christian Wille from West Germany. <v Steve Allen>In this final round, each will play 2 complete concertos, one <v Steve Allen>with the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra and one with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. <v Steve Allen>Stanisław Skrowaczewski will conduct.

<v Steve Allen>Tonight, we'll be hearing Emma Tahmizian of Bulgaria and Barry Douglas <v Steve Allen>from the United Kingdom playing concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, <v Steve Allen>Prokofiev and Brahms. <v Steve Allen>There's obviously a great deal of stake here in the next few days. <v Steve Allen>The gold medalist stands to win a prize valued in excess of 200 <v Steve Allen>thousand dollars, not only a 12000 dollar cash prize, but a Carnegie <v Steve Allen>Hall debut, a major recording contract, appearances with <v Steve Allen>many of the world's leading orchestras, and international concert engagements <v Steve Allen>for 2 and a half years following the competition. <v Steve Allen>As result, what we have ahead of us is anything but an average concert. <v Steve Allen>A level of tension, of eager anticipation is certainly much too high <v Steve Allen>for that. Instead, I think it's best to regard the events of the next few days <v Steve Allen>as a great musical suspense story in 4 acts, 3 <v Steve Allen>nights of performances, and finally, the mystery solved at the winners' ceremony <v Steve Allen>on Sunday. Now, before turning to tonight's concert, we'll first

<v Steve Allen>examine the history of the competition itself and uh recall for you <v Steve Allen>some of the events that led up to this final round. <v Steve Allen>Joining me tonight and I'll be the one making noises with my pen on my papers here <v Steve Allen>[laughs] joining me and throughout the next two, three evenings is our commentator, <v Steve Allen>Paul Hume, for many years, the music critic of The Washington Post. <v Steve Allen>Hello, Paul. <v Paul Hume>Hello, Steve. It's a great pleasure to be here with you tonight and for what I think are <v Paul Hume>going to be 4 very exciting evenings here in Fort Worth. <v Steve Allen>It's interesting that you immediately moved to the word exciting because <v Steve Allen>that is precisely the mood here. It's almost like the mood at a big athletic event. <v Steve Allen>The audience is buzzing. <v Paul Hume>Well, this is the tremendous event in Fort Worth, and it's an event which it draws the <v Paul Hume>eyes of the musical world to Fort Worth every 4 years. <v Paul Hume>And I'm delighted that I've been associated with it, at least in a visiting capacity <v Paul Hume>since 2 years before it began way back in 1960. <v Paul Hume>And I've been to all of the competitions since then except for 1.

<v Paul Hume>So I'm used to the excitement that builds up in Fort Worth at these Cliburn competitions. <v Steve Allen>Well, then, you know, of course, what you're talking about. <v Steve Allen>There's 1 great artist who has been a central figure at every one of these competitions. <v Steve Allen>And so quite appropriately, we'll begin our coverage with his greetings. <v Van Cliburn>Hello, this is Van Cliburn. <v Van Cliburn>On behalf of the competition, I would like to welcome all of you and the vast audience of <v Van Cliburn>American Public Radio. <v Van Cliburn>It gives me great pleasure to know that the beauty created by these young musicians here <v Van Cliburn>in Fort Worth, Texas, goes far beyond the walls of this concert hall. <v Van Cliburn>Join us now and listen with your hearts to the spiritual constellation <v Van Cliburn>and timelessness of great music. <v Steve Allen>If you're joining us just now, that's Van Cliburn, who remains a very visible friend <v Steve Allen>and adviser to the competition which bears his name. <v Steve Allen>27 years ago, it was his stunning victory at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow,

<v Steve Allen>which led to the creation of the Van Cliburn competition. <v Steve Allen>Steve Proffitt reports. <v Steve Proffitt>The year was 1958. Eisenhower was in the White House and the Cold War <v Steve Proffitt>with the Soviets was perhaps as icy as it's ever been. <v Steve Proffitt>Just months before, America had been humiliated by the successful Soviet launch <v Steve Proffitt>of the first satellite, Sputnik. <v Steve Proffitt>And this country was looking for a hero, any hero. <v Steve Proffitt>Pianist and author Abram Chasins remembers the nation's mood during that period. <v Abram Chasins>There was an enormous danger overhead and <v Abram Chasins>the Sputnik launching by the Soviet Union <v Abram Chasins>and we were ready to beat the Russians at anything, including a game of Russian <v Abram Chasins>roulette if necessary. [piano plays] <v Steve Proffitt>America found its hero in that spring of 1958.

<v Steve Proffitt>He was a young, gangly Texan, traveled to Moscow and beat the Russians <v Steve Proffitt>at their own game. Van Cliburn overwhelmed both audiences and judges <v Steve Proffitt>at the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. <v Steve Proffitt>In the finals, the Russian crowd went wild cheering for 10 minutes after he performed. <v Steve Proffitt>[applause] The young Van Cliburn, who was relatively unknown in this country before <v Steve Proffitt>winning the Moscow competition, returned home to a hero's welcome. <v Steve Proffitt>Abram Chasins, who later became the pianist's biographer, says that Van Cliburn <v Steve Proffitt>became the symbol of America's political and cultural will. <v Abram Chasins>?Take a tape? parade for a pianist, no less up Broadway. <v Abram Chasins>It was as though a war hero had shot down an army <v Abram Chasins>of enemy planes singlehanded. <v Abram Chasins>This was front page news. <v Abram Chasins>You walked on the street with him. Everybody knew him. <v Abram Chasins>Taxi drivers: "Hi, Van!" He appeared on NBC <v Abram Chasins>and in a 5-minute interview for which they paid him 20000

<v Abram Chasins>dollars just to be there. <v Steve Allen>The gentleman at the piano, ladies and gentlemen, is a young Texan, named Van Cliburn. <v Steve Proffitt>The long, tall Texas piano wizard made that appearance on a Sunday evening variety <v Steve Proffitt>show hosted by Steve Allen. <v Steve Allen>[applause] <v Steve Allen>A man who won a stunning victory for the United States six weeks ago in Moscow's <v Steve Allen>conservatory, where he won the gold medal in the Soviet Union's first international <v Steve Allen>competition for violin and piano. <v Steve Allen>The occasion, as you all know, is a competition among young pianists from all over the <v Steve Allen>world, including many Russians. <v Steve Allen>Van received at that time an almost unprecedented 10-minute standing ovation. <v Steve Allen>Here he is, Van Cliburn. [applause] <v Steve Allen>Van, we often, uh we in television often loosely use the phrase, it's an honor to have <v Steve Allen>you with us, but I'm sure, you know, we use it in all sincerity at this time.

<v Van Cliburn>You know my sincerity when I say it's such a pleasure to be here. <v Steve Allen>Well, uh ?inaudible Russian? <v Van Cliburn>Where did you learn that? <v Steve Allen>That's the uh Russian word for good. And I learned it at a horrorshow over. <v Steve Allen>[laughter] Bela Lugosi. Did I say it correctly? <v Van Cliburn>It was 1 ?inaudible Russian? <v Steve Allen>Ladies and gentlemen, here is Van Cliburn playing the final movement from Tchaikovsky's <v Steve Allen>Piano Concerto number 1 with members of the Symphony of the Air ?inaudible? <v Steve Allen>conducting. [applause] <v Speaker>[Van Cliburn performs Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto Number 1] <v Steve Proffitt>In the summer of 1958, Van Cliburn began an extensive touring <v Steve Proffitt>schedule. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Earle Allison, who had organized the National <v Steve Proffitt>Guild of Piano Teachers, announced plans for a piano competition to be named <v Steve Proffitt>after Van Cliburn. He picked a Fort Worth piano teacher, Grace Ward Langford, <v Steve Proffitt>to organize the event. Langford's daughter, Catherine Haden, remembers that she and her

<v Steve Proffitt>mother worked long and hard to make the event a reality. <v Catherine Haden>We couldn't convince a lot of people in this city that this was really <v Catherine Haden>what Fort Worth needed and what would put it on <v Catherine Haden>the map. But just about 3 or 4 weeks before the first competition, <v Catherine Haden>when they found out, yes, the Russians are coming, people did to hop <v Catherine Haden>on the bandwagon. <v Steve Proffitt>That first competition took place in 1962. <v Steve Proffitt>It's been held every 4 years since. <v Steve Proffitt>The executive director of this year's competition, Andrew Raeburn, says that the Van <v Steve Proffitt>Cliburn offers a chance for young musicians to test their skills against the best <v Steve Proffitt>the world has to offer. And it gives winners and runners up worldwide <v Steve Proffitt>recognition that can lead to distinguished careers as concert pianists. <v Steve Proffitt>A happy byproduct, says Raeburn, is that people from widely divergent cultures <v Steve Proffitt>have a chance to meet and share ideas. <v Andrew Raeburn>There is so much unjustified division

<v Andrew Raeburn>between peoples. We live very differently from people who come from the People's Republic <v Andrew Raeburn>of China, or from Australia, and it is very good for us <v Andrew Raeburn>to see how they live. And that's very good for them to see how we live, <v Andrew Raeburn>and those kind of bonds, in my view, go right back to what- <v Andrew Raeburn>to- to what happened in- in 1958 when Mr Clibrun won the <v Andrew Raeburn>Tchaikovsky competition. There were genuine bonds of friendship <v Andrew Raeburn>established between human beings. And I think that's absolutely wonderful. <v Steve Proffitt>As for the man who gave his name to the competition, Van Cliburn remains <v Steve Proffitt>actively involved in selecting the repertory and overseeing the entire process <v Steve Proffitt>of the event. He sees the competition as an opportunity for young pianists <v Steve Proffitt>to learn from one another, as well as to push themselves to the limits of their artistic <v Steve Proffitt>ability. <v Van Cliburn>We have felt that a competition, as all competitions, are, <v Van Cliburn>they're only a door.

<v Van Cliburn>And it's an opportunity cycle. <v Van Cliburn>You're given an opportunity. <v Van Cliburn>What you do is up to you. [piano and orchestra playing] <v Steve Allen>That report produced by Steve Proffitt. <v Steve Allen>We're back now live at the theater center of Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort <v Steve Allen>Worth, where in a very short while, we'll be hearing the first of the performances <v Steve Allen>from the final round of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition. <v Steve Allen>To those just joining us I'm Steve Allen. <v Steve Allen>In fact, I'm Steve Allen, whether you're joining us or not. <v Steve Allen>And joining me is Paul Hume. <v Steve Allen>Paul, this competition's sometimes been referred to as the Olympics of the piano. <v Steve Allen>Help place it in context for us.

<v Steve Allen>How important is it? <v Paul Hume>Well, the Cliburn competition, like a number of the world's major music competitions, <v Paul Hume>are of great importance to music lovers, to performers, to managers, to conductors, <v Paul Hume>to those interested in world music throughout the world, whether they take place in <v Paul Hume>Moscow or in Leeds in England, the Queen Elizabeth in Belgium, the Leventritt in New <v Paul Hume>York. Because these competitions can bring out the <v Paul Hume>very finest new younger artists. <v Paul Hume>And it is those young artists who are going to be the stars of the generations to come. <v Paul Hume>The winners are not always those who go ahead and make great careers. <v Paul Hume>And sometimes it may be the second or third or fourth place winner in 1 competition <v Paul Hume>or another who eventually shines in the world's eyes or ears, I should say, I guess. <v Paul Hume>But it is out of these competitions that we get most of the top performers <v Paul Hume>that you and I will be enjoying for the next 20 or 30 years. <v Paul Hume>That is their greatest significance. <v Steve Allen>That's great. So all is not lost if one does not come in first or second here? <v Paul Hume>Not at all. Those who have not won in some competitions have within 5 years become

<v Paul Hume>established with worldwide careers. <v Steve Allen>Perhaps they reach full blossom at a later point. <v Steve Allen>Well, ultimately, of course, the decision about the winners, rests with a distinguished <v Steve Allen>international jury. Paul, would you tell us who they are? <v Paul Hume>The jurists here in Fort Worth this year are Turkish pianist Idil Biret, <v Paul Hume>American pianist Jorge Bolet, Bulgarian pianist and teacher Anton Dikov, <v Paul Hume>American pianist Malcolm Frager, Hungarian conductor, also a distinguished pianist, <v Paul Hume>Arpad Joó, the Chinese pianist and teacher Li Ming-Qiang, the <v Paul Hume>Japanese Pianist Minoru Nojima, the French Pianist Cécile Ousset, <v Paul Hume>and I might point out that both Nojima and Ousett were among the contestants in <v Paul Hume>the very first Cliburn competition here in 1962. <v Paul Hume>Other judges include the distinguished American critic Harold Schonberg, the Swiss <v Paul Hume>American pianist and teacher Soulima Stravinsky, the son of the composer Igor Stravinsky, <v Paul Hume>and finally, the German author, critic and administrator, Wolfgang Stesemann, who was

<v Paul Hume>for nearly 20 years the managing director of the Berlin Philharmonic and whose father was <v Paul Hume>one of the great figures in the establishment of the Weimar Republic in Germany in the <v Paul Hume>1920s. <v Steve Allen>It occurs to me that if the those in competition here had to present novels, let us <v Steve Allen>say the jury would probably be composed of editors and critics and <v Steve Allen>not other novelists, but here, a good many of these jurors are pianists <v Steve Allen>themselves. <v Paul Hume>There's a balance almost always of performers, pianists, non- ?inaudible? <v Paul Hume>pianists, and perhaps non-practicing musicians. <v Steve Allen>Well, the jury is chaired by John Giordano, music director and conductor of the Fort <v Steve Allen>Worth Symphony and Fort Worth Chamber Orchestras. <v Steve Allen>As a non-voting chairman, Mr. Giordano takes active part in the voting <v Steve Allen>only in the event of a tie. <v Steve Allen>Now, as you can imagine, the jury has an extremely difficult job. <v Steve Allen>I was saying to Paul, before we came on the air as a musician myself, I honestly <v Steve Allen>would not accept the job of judging this, because to me, all of these participants sound <v Steve Allen>magnificently gifted. The 11 jurors initially, of course, heard 36

<v Steve Allen>competitors' through two preliminary rounds, 12 pianists then advanced <v Steve Allen>to the semifinal round. And now we have, as I mentioned earlier, our 6 <v Steve Allen>finalists. Those of you listening should understand that even the original 36 <v Steve Allen>represented the finest among over 120 original applicants. <v Steve Allen>And so at this point, we're talking about nothing but the cream of the cream of <v Steve Allen>the crop. Prior to tonight, the jurors have heard each finalist <v Steve Allen>play solo repertory for an hour in the preliminaries. <v Steve Allen>And then in the semifinals, they heard an hour-long solo recital and <v Steve Allen>a complete chamber music performance with the Tokyo String Quartet. <v Steve Allen>That means that the jurors have already heard each of the 6 finalists in <v Steve Allen>nearly 3 solid hours of performance. <v Steve Allen>It's a tough question. How do you judge the relative merits of 6 tremendously gifted, <v Steve Allen>accomplished pianists? And that, of course, is precisely the difficult question facing

<v Steve Allen>every single listener in the audience too, those here in the theater or you listening on <v Steve Allen>your radio. In listening to a competition, by the way, it's almost impossible not <v Steve Allen>to become a surrogate judge. <v Steve Allen>Throughout the competition, the members of the audience here have been listening <v Steve Allen>intently, scribbling notes, keeping their own score sheet. <v Steve Allen>At the intermission, the theater's been buzzing with speculation, comparisons, perhaps <v Steve Allen>even an argument or 2. And we invite you to take an active part in this process, <v Steve Allen>beginning tonight and continuing for the next 2 nights, you'll have a chance to <v Steve Allen>hear all 6 finalists in 2 complete concerto performances. <v Steve Allen>So why don't you take part, listen carefully, take your own notes and pick your own <v Steve Allen>personal favorites, perhaps with members of your family, friends. <v Steve Allen>And then on Sunday, when the winners are announced, you can compare your own ballots <v Steve Allen>with that of the competition and the jury. <v Steve Allen>And in case you feel somewhat hesitant about becoming a juror in a great international <v Steve Allen>piano competition, don't worry, because we've asked Paul Hume to prepare a

<v Steve Allen>crash course on the fine art of judging pianists. <v Paul Hume>How to be your own judge and jury? <v Paul Hume>Well, you already do that when you applaud or withhold your applause. <v Paul Hume>You often deliver opinions as to which performance of a specific work you preferred and <v Paul Hume>why. And so do the judges on our Cliburn and jury. <v Paul Hume>There are 11 of them from around the world, this country, and as far distant as the <v Paul Hume>People's Republic of China, Japan, Bulgaria, France, Hungary and West Germany. <v Paul Hume>But more than their geographical distances is the possibility, indeed, the probability <v Paul Hume>that any number of these judges have come to Fort Worth with widely differing backgrounds <v Paul Hume>and training, shall we say, traditions in music out of which they will make their <v Paul Hume>judgments. So may I suggest that you make this experiment in listening to 1 of the most <v Paul Hume>familiar passages in the entire piano literature? <v Paul Hume>I'm going to play for you, on recording, of course, although I'd be happy to play it on <v Paul Hume>the Steinway, the famous opening 10 measures of the Beethoven Sonata number 8 in C

<v Paul Hume>Minor, the Sonata known as the Pathétique. <v Paul Hume>Beethoven marks this introductory passage as simply grave, which is no <v Paul Hume>tempo indication at all, but means heavy or serious. <v Paul Hume>He gives no indication of tempo. <v Paul Hume>I'll play this passage for you from 2 quite different recordings, each by 1 <v Paul Hume>of the world's famous pianists. <v Paul Hume>As you listen, decide how you like the approach of the first pianist who plays its <v Paul Hume>10 measures in 1 minute and 27 seconds, while the second pianist takes <v Paul Hume>2 minutes and 3 seconds for the same 10 measures, which makes quite <v Paul Hume>dr- different dramatic difference, I should say, in so brief a passage. <v Paul Hume>After you've heard both artists, I'll give you their names, but for now, decide how you <v Paul Hume>are going to judge these 2 and then think why you may prefer one <v Paul Hume>or the other. This is only a brief example of the kinds of decisions the judges in <v Paul Hume>the Cliburn jury will be making both consciously and subconsciously throughout <v Paul Hume>these intense days. Here is pianist number 1.

<v Speaker>[recording of first pianist's rendition of "Sonata Pathétique" from Beethoven] <v Paul Hume>And now here is pianist number 2 playing exactly the same passage.

<v Speaker>[recording of second pianist's rendition of "Sonata Pathétique" from Beethoven] <v Paul Hume>Now, there you have heard 2 world-famous pianists taking 2 markedly

<v Paul Hume>different approaches to one of music's most famous passages. <v Paul Hume>How did you rate them and why? <v Paul Hume>The first pianist was Arthur Rubinstein. <v Paul Hume>The second was Daniel Barenboim. <v Paul Hume>And by the way, in passing, I should point out that Rubinstein was around 75 or 76 <v Paul Hume>years old when he took those opening measures in that relatively more rapid <v Paul Hume>manner. And while Barenboim was in his late 20s when he made his recording, <v Paul Hume>which says so much for any misconception that it is the younger artists who tend to take <v Paul Hume>things at a more rapid pace than their elders. <v Steve Allen>Interesting. <v Paul Hume>Notice, by the way, that you can't say one was right and the other wrong at all. <v Paul Hume>But how did you assess the difference and to which artist would <v Paul Hume>you give the prize? <v Paul Hume>I hope you enjoyed this brief experiment in the art of making judgments. <v Paul Hume>And I imagine that many of you will be doing this regularly as you listen to these final <v Paul Hume>dramatic sessions of the Cliburn competition. <v Paul Hume>Now, you know, at least something of the way the members of the jury feel as they listen

<v Paul Hume>and consider and reflect and finally decide that Pianist A <v Paul Hume>really has something more distinctive, more musical, more to be prized <v Paul Hume>than the Pianist B. <v Paul Hume>But you might like to take some comfort in knowing that there are often strong <v Paul Hume>disagreements among juries. <v Steve Allen>Really? <v Paul Hume>Disagreements that have arisen right here in Fort Worth and in Warsaw, Poland, and in <v Paul Hume>other famous competitions that have led to startlingly public pronouncements. <v Paul Hume>But that's another program altogether, though I have a feeling we may talk about that <v Paul Hume>before the next 4 evenings are over. <v Steve Allen>Well, again, because of the general level of excellence of the players, I can see why <v Steve Allen>the disagreements would be almost inevitable. <v Steve Allen>Sometimes in some competitions, a given runner just finishes 7 yards ahead of the <v Steve Allen>others, and nobody's in the slightest doubt as to who was first. <v Paul Hume>Exactly. <v Steve Allen>But- but this is so much a matter, as you say, of opinion and taste. <v Steve Allen>Well, a very instructive advice from Paul Hume. <v Steve Allen>Now as we approach this first performance in the finals of the Van Cliburn International <v Steve Allen>Piano Competition, the members of the audience here at the Theater- Theater Center

<v Steve Allen>in Fort Worth are taking their seats. <v Steve Allen>We expect the capacity crowd tonight, as we do for all 3 nights of the finals, because <v Steve Allen>the tickets for these performances and for the winners' ceremony on Sunday have been sold <v Steve Allen>out to some weeks in advance. <v Steve Allen>I think it's fair to say that for these 2 weeks, the competition completely dominates <v Steve Allen>social and cultural life in Fort Worth. <v Steve Allen>Everywhere we've been in the last few days, we've seen signs and banners announcing the <v Steve Allen>competition event. The local papers have been full of extensive coverage, reporting on <v Steve Allen>everything from the competitors and their playing to the rounds of the parties and social <v Steve Allen>events associated with the festival. <v Steve Allen>And even Fort Worth schoolchildren take part. <v Steve Allen>They have designed and painted the wonderfully attractive and colorful competition <v Steve Allen>flags that hang from the streetlights throughout the downtown area. <v Steve Allen>So all the anticipation, all the speculation now focus <v Steve Allen>on the 6 pianists who have been chosen as finalists. <v Steve Allen>Tonight, we'll meet and hear from 2 of them, as we've told you, Emma Tahmizian of

<v Steve Allen>Bulgaria and Barry Douglas of the United Kingdom and specifically Northern <v Steve Allen>Ireland. In the first half of the program, they'll be joined by the Fort Worth <v Steve Allen>Chamber Orchestra, led by Stanisław Strober Skrowaczewski. <v Steve Allen>To open the program, Emma Tamizian will play the Mozart Concerto Number 24 <v Steve Allen>in C Minor K 491. <v Steve Allen>And then we'll be hearing the Beethoven Second Piano Concerto in B-flat, <v Steve Allen>Opus 19, played by Barry Douglas. <v Steve Allen>This live broadcast from the 7th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition <v Steve Allen>is made possible for which we are grateful by grants from the Mobil Oil Corporation <v Steve Allen>and Tandy Corporation, RadioShack. <v Steve Allen>We'll return in a moment. But first, we pause briefly for station identification. <v Steve Allen>This is the American Public Radio Network. <v Steve Allen>Welcome back to the theater center of the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth,

<v Steve Allen>Texas, for this finals program from the 1985 <v Steve Allen>Van Cliburn Competition. <v Steve Allen>If you're just joining us, I'm Steve Allen. With me is critic and commentator Paul Hume. <v Steve Allen>In a few moments, we'll be hearing our first competitor, Emma Tahmizian, from <v Steve Allen>Bulgaria. Paul, tell us about Miss Tahmizian if you would. <v Steve Allen>What- what's her general background? <v Paul Hume>Miss Tahmizian is a Bulgarian citizen. She was born in Bulgaria and she has <v Paul Hume>done all of her principal studying there. <v Paul Hume>She's 27 years old. These competitions are very nice because they allow you to say very <v Paul Hume>frankly exactly how old a lady is. <v Paul Hume>[laughs] Her debut formerly was in Sofia in 1977, which of course, is only <v Paul Hume>8 years ago. But Miss Tahmizian began studying the piano when she was 3. <v Paul Hume>Now there are a lot of pros and cons there, but a good many of our pianists we're hearing <v Paul Hume>in this competition, and especially among the pianists- the finalists did begin studying <v Paul Hume>at an early age and at the age of 5 Miss Tahmizian made her first public

<v Paul Hume>appearance, and I found that several of our finalists made their first public appearances <v Paul Hume>at the age of 5 or 6. So obviously you have to start early. <v Paul Hume>One of the important things is what competitions have all of these performers <v Paul Hume>entered in the past and how they rated in them? <v Paul Hume>Miss Tahmizian in chronological order entered, I should say, at least we'll <v Paul Hume>take them chronologically, 1977, she took first prize in the Robert <v Paul Hume>Schumann International Contest in 1980, fourth prize in Montreal, <v Paul Hume>seventh prize at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982, <v Paul Hume>and sixth prize at the Leeds Competition last year, 1984. <v Paul Hume>Steve, doesn't it sound a little by- like a horse race, you know? <v Paul Hume>Horse came in fifth at Rockingham, third at Atlantic City, fourth at Ra- <v Paul Hume>you know, wherever? <v Steve Allen>Yes. That would be a workable analogy. <v Steve Allen>I'm also wondering if there is something to be said for just being the fresh <v Steve Allen>face in a competition. If someone else has been around for a few years, are the critics

<v Steve Allen>perhaps enchanted by someone, young man or young woman, simply because they're new? <v Paul Hume>There's a very real element there because they are always interested to hear what a new <v Paul Hume>pianist will, whereas if they're hearing pianos, they've heard before, they think, well, <v Paul Hume>we know what she can do or what he can do. <v Steve Allen>Or perhaps he's not as good tonight as he was 2 years ago. <v Paul Hume>I wonder if this colors their judgment. I think, by the way, also that we should always <v Paul Hume>give credit to the piano teachers and Miss Tahmizian teachers in Sofia, <v Paul Hume>Bulgaria, where ?inaudible? first for 5 years and then for 6 years more <v Paul Hume>Julia and Constantine ?inaudible?. <v Paul Hume>Obviously, they were able to teach her the things that she needed to know and to practice <v Paul Hume>to get to this highest level, which a Cliburn competition certainly is. <v Steve Allen>You mentioned the importance a moment ago of starting early and that- that now seems to <v Steve Allen>be the trend among the best pianists. <v Steve Allen>Is there any controversy about that, however? <v Steve Allen>There- there is in the field of general education, as you know, some people say don't <v Steve Allen>push them that early, don't be teaching them too much at the age of 2 and 3. <v Steve Allen>But is the feeling now that as regard to the piano, you really should?

<v Paul Hume>Almost without exception, you must. <v Paul Hume>By the age of 10, it's really too late. <v Paul Hume>This matter of digital facility, finger ease, you know. <v Steve Allen>Yes. <v Paul Hume>It's so easy for kids. And if they start young and start early and have good training, <v Paul Hume>it doesn't push them too far too fast. <v Paul Hume>One of the greatest exceptions is history, as is the case of Paderewski, who started late <v Paul Hume>and was told by ?inaudible?. No, it is too late. <v Paul Hume>You are too old. You will never be a pianist. <v Paul Hume>As a rule, they must start by the time they're 8, and 7 is better. <v Steve Allen>How late did- did Paderewski start? <v Paul Hume>Well, Paderewski started young, but was told in Warsaw at the conservatory that he should <v Paul Hume>take up the trombone. And he didn't get to ?inaudible? <v Paul Hume>in Vienna until he was 23 years old, which was too late, except that Paderewski <v Paul Hume>was a man of iron will and could break that rule, and did indeed become quite <v Paul Hume>a pianist. <v Steve Allen>Genius uh tends to make its own rules, I suppose. <v Steve Allen>Well, that sets the stage, now, additionally, for this Final Round Concerto performance <v Steve Allen>by Emma Tahmizian.

<v Steve Allen>In just a few moments, she'll be on stage here at the theater center of the Tarrant <v Steve Allen>County Convention Center. That facility here has the longest name <v Steve Allen>of any hall I've ever worked in. [laughs] And it's also distinguished, of course, in a <v Steve Allen>number of other respects. <v Steve Allen>Miss Tahmizian will play, as we've told you, the piano concerto number 24 <v Steve Allen>in C Minor by Mozart with the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra <v Steve Allen>conducted by Stanisław Skrowaczewski. <v Steve Allen>The setting here in the theater looks very much like almost any other concert <v Steve Allen>hall, but there are some major differences. <v Steve Allen>The stage itself is draped with flags representing the countries of all <v Steve Allen>the competitors. In the center of the first couple of rows of the balcony, <v Steve Allen>a separate section has been set aside for the 11 jurors. <v Steve Allen>There they sit at tables with plenty of room for their notebooks, of course, their <v Steve Allen>other papers at the ready. And each performance that we're about to hear <v Steve Allen>is an absolutely critical step in determining who will be the 3 <v Steve Allen>top medalists of this seventh Van Cliburn International Piano

<v Steve Allen>Competition. Paul, I see that the artists are about <v Steve Allen>ready to enter and it's difficult to imagine even the <v Steve Allen>tension- the general energy <v Steve Allen>withheld or expressed that Emma Tahmizian must be feeling now backstage. <v Steve Allen>Think of how much is riding on the performance we're about to hear. <v Paul Hume>Who wants to know what it feels like? <v Paul Hume>Only an artist who wants a great career is willing to go through this kind of <v Paul Hume>pre-performance anguish and they all feel it, without exception, they all admit <v Paul Hume>that there are nerves just before they come onstage. <v Steve Allen>As just to a mere popular pianist, a jazz pianist myself, I know that some nights <v Steve Allen>I'm as good as I can be at least, but many nights I'm not. <v Steve Allen>I'm only playing about up to 92 percent of my potential. <v Steve Allen>What a tragedy it would be in a moment of this sort if that were to occur. <v Paul Hume>I think we might point out, while we still have a moment, that the cadenzas in the Mozart <v Paul Hume>concerto, which are always very important, are being played by Miss Tahmizian, and she

<v Paul Hume>wrote them herself. Since Mozart did not leave cadenzas for this concerto, she <v Paul Hume>has provided her own. <v Steve Allen>Ah. ?Fascinating? information. <v Steve Allen>Well, the members of the uh the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra <v Steve Allen>have taken their places onstage. <v Paul Hume>They're just going to tune. The concertmaster is taking the A from the piano, as is, of <v Paul Hume>course, customary when you have a piano concerto so that everyone will have the same idea <v Paul Hume>of A and Miss Tahmizian will take the very formidable job <v Paul Hume>of playing one of the greatest concertos in the world. <v Paul Hume>One of the greatest by Mozart, those 2 things being synonymous, of course. <v Steve Allen>Because of the motion picture and the play Amadeus, the selection would be more <v Steve Allen>well-known now than it might otherwise have been. <v Paul Hume>It was interesting that of all of the pianists coming in this year, 12 out <v Paul Hume>of the 36 said they wanted to play a Mozart if they were lucky enough to get to the <v Paul Hume>finals. And we'll hear 4 performances of Mozart concertos these 4 nights. <v Steve Allen>What happens, by the way, when 2 or more pianists want to play the same thing?

<v Paul Hume>Well, 3 of the pianists playing here will play the C minor and the- 1 other will play the <v Paul Hume>D minor. So we'll hear the C Minor Concerto, which we're now about to hear, 3 times: <v Paul Hume>tonight, tomorrow and Saturday night. <v Steve Allen>I see. <v Speaker>[applause] <v Steve Allen>And the applause, of course, signals the entrance of Miss Tahmizian. <v Paul Hume>With her is our conductor, Stanisław Skrowaczewski. <v Paul Hume>And we are about to hear the Mozart Piano Concerto number 24 in C Minor. <v Steve Allen>The uh mics here have been opened for us simply to explain to you why you're hearing <v Steve Allen>nothing for the last 30 seconds or so. <v Paul Hume>Miss Tahmizian has been adjusting the height of the piano stool and it took her quite a <v Paul Hume>while to do it. She even had some assistance from the concertmaster, but now I think they <v Paul Hume>are ready to begin.