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

<v Speaker>[Philippe Bianconi and orchestra play Mozart's piano concerto number 24 in C minor K491] <v Steve Allen>We've heard and greatly enjoyed the piano concerto number 24

<v Steve Allen>in the minor before 91 by Mozart. <v Steve Allen>Soloist was Philippe Bianconi, who now leaves the stage. <v Steve Allen>He was accompanied by the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, conducted by <v Steve Allen>Stanisław Skrowaczewski. <v Paul Hume>I should tell our listeners that the cadenzas they heard in that concerto were, again, <v Paul Hume>as we heard the other evening by the distinguished and Viennese pianist <v Paul Hume>Paul Badura-Skoda, and I think very handsomely done in the best tradition of <v Paul Hume>cadenzas, a cadenza being required because Mozart didn't leave any <v Paul Hume>for the C minor concerto. I find it interesting that in Mr. Bianconi's background, while <v Paul Hume>he's out here in the foreground, by the way, is the fact that he has recorded the great <v Paul Hume>song cycle, "Die Winterreise" by Schubert with the well-known German baritone <v Paul Hume>Herman Prey. In doing that kind of thing, to play for a great songs <v Paul Hume>with a singer, Mr. Bianconi is right in the line of such great pianists as Alfred <v Paul Hume>Cortot, Artur Schnabel, Walter Gieseking, and Edwin Fischer to name only 4

<v Paul Hume>of probably a dozen that I could name. <v Paul Hume>It's an interesting facet that some pianists never explore, <v Paul Hume>but it marks the finer musician. <v Steve Allen>Ah. Well, this performance is part of the finals of the 1985 Van Cliburn competition, <v Steve Allen>coming to you live from Fort Worth, Texas. <v Steve Allen>There were 6 finalists, each of whom plays 2 concertos in this concluding <v Steve Allen>round of the competition. <v Steve Allen>And as we've mentioned earlier, there's a great deal at stake in these performances. <v Steve Allen>The gold medalist at this competition will win one of the richest prizes in all of music, <v Steve Allen>valued at more than 200 thousand dollars and including a cash prize, <v Steve Allen>a recording contract, a Carnegie Hall debut, and major concert engagements <v Steve Allen>across the world. <v Steve Allen>The orchestra's now milling about and off <v Steve Allen>[laughs] for the most part, and we've met and heard the <v Steve Allen>uh 2 more finalists in this competition.

<v Steve Allen>Paul, if you were a member of the jury, and obviously since <v Steve Allen>I use the word "if" it means you're not uh I thought I would clarify that because there <v Steve Allen>could have been a few listeners just tuning in or heard you expressing positive or <v Steve Allen>negative opinions and thought that might have something to do with the voting. <v Steve Allen>In any event, if you were, as I say, a member of the jury, what might you be thinking <v Steve Allen>now, having heard these 2 performances? <v Paul Hume>Well, in the private score sheet that I am keeping here about which I will tell our <v Paul Hume>listeners all before the evening is over, I have given Mr. Bianconi a very high <v Paul Hume>mark for the beautiful way in which I thought he took care of practically every aspect <v Paul Hume>of that Mozart concerto: the phrasing, the sensitivity, the touch, <v Paul Hume>the constant shading, never letting phrases just run along in a kind of a routine <v Paul Hume>manner. I was very impressed with that performance. <v Steve Allen>I have a technical question, just popped into my head. <v Steve Allen>In the field of popular music, and sometimes, although quite rarely, in jazz, <v Steve Allen>if a musician in a recording studio doesn't get <v Steve Allen>close enough to perfection, to satisf- satisfy himself or the employer of the moment,

<v Steve Allen>it is not unknown that they tape together pieces of 2 <v Steve Allen>or more separate takes or recordings so that the final product has- <v Steve Allen>is much better. Has that ever been done or would that be now- now crime in recording <v Steve Allen>legitimate music? <v Paul Hume>It is done regularly- <v Steve Allen>Ah. <v Paul Hume>And increasingly, and we call it splicing exactly as I think they call it in the jazz <v Paul Hume>field. <v Steve Allen>Yes. <v Paul Hume>And I could tell you questions that Arthur Rubinstein asked me, did I think that was <v Paul Hume>ethically correct? And I said, yes, because I can always know instantly a Rubinstein <v Paul Hume>recording. There are some recordings in which there are many different takes that are put <v Paul Hume>together. That's not such a good idea, but it's done a lot. <v Steve Allen>I see. Well, after intermission, we'll have a second chance to hear these 2 gifted young <v Steve Allen>artists. They will both return to play again, this time with Stanisław Skrowaczewski <v Steve Allen>conducting the full Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. <v Steve Allen>Hans-Christian Wille will be playing the Prokofiev 3rd concerto and <v Steve Allen>Philippe Bianconi has chosen the Brahms first concerto. <v Steve Allen>This live broadcast from the 7th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is

<v Steve Allen>made possible by grants from the Mobil Oil Corporation and Tandy <v Steve Allen>Corporation, RadioShack. <v Steve Allen>We'll return in a moment. But first, we pause for station identification. <v Steve Allen>This is the American Public Radio Network. <v Steve Allen>Thank you, stations, and welcome back listeners to the theater center of the Tarrant <v Steve Allen>County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas, for the second half of this finals <v Steve Allen>program from the 1985 Van Cliburn competition.

<v Steve Allen>I'm Steve Allen, with me is critic and commentator Paul Hume. <v Steve Allen>On this third night of finals, we're listening to 2 of our 6 finalists. <v Steve Allen>They are Hans-Christian Wille from West Germany and Philippe Bianconi <v Steve Allen>of France. The other 4 finalists are José Feghali from Brazil, <v Steve Allen>Emma Tahmizian from Bulgaria, Barry Douglas from Northern Ireland, and <v Steve Allen>Károly Mocsári from Hungary. <v Steve Allen>By the end of this concert, we will have heard, of course, all 6 of them. <v Steve Allen>And so we're getting quite close now to the crucial decision: who among these 6 <v Steve Allen>will be the gold medalist? <v Steve Allen>The decision, obviously, rents with a- rests with a distinguished jury of 11 who are <v Steve Allen>seated at the front of the balcony here at the theater. <v Steve Allen>They bring to their task a wide variety of perspectives and backgrounds. <v Paul Hume>Once again, I think also for the last time this evening, Steve, the jurors are <v Paul Hume>the Turkish pianist Idil Biret, American pianist Jorge Bolet, <v Paul Hume>Bulgarian pianist and teacher Anton Dikov, the American pianist Malcolm

<v Paul Hume>Frager, Hungarian conductor and pianist Arpad Joó, Chinese <v Paul Hume>pianist and teacher Li Ming-Qiang. <v Paul Hume>From Japan, we have Minoru Nojima, from France Cécil Ousset, <v Paul Hume>the American critic Harald Schonberg, the Swiss American pianist and teacher Soulima <v Paul Hume>Stravinsky, and finally, the German author, critic and administrator Wolfgang <v Paul Hume>Stresemann. The jury is chaired by John Giordano, who is the music director <v Paul Hume>and conductor of the orchestra we are hearing these evenings, the Fort Worth Symphony and <v Paul Hume>the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra. <v Steve Allen>At the beginning of the program, we had a chance to hear part of a conversation with <v Steve Allen>Hans-Christian Wille. During this intermission, we'll hear from Philippe Bianconi, <v Steve Allen>both in conversation and performance. <v Steve Allen>And in about 10 minutes, we'll be joined here in the studio by a special visitor, <v Steve Allen>the American pianist Ralph Votapek, gold medalist <v Steve Allen>in the first Van Cliburn competition in 1962. <v Steve Allen>First, then, let's turn to Mr. Bianconi, who at 25 is already an experienced

<v Steve Allen>young professional, and he includes among his honors the first prize of the <v Steve Allen>1981 Robert Casadesus competition. <v Steve Allen>Earlier this week, he spoke with our reporter, Craig Allen. <v Philippe Bianconi>The program of the Van Cliburn is one of the most important of <v Philippe Bianconi>any competitions. It was very hard to- <v Philippe Bianconi>to keep everything together. <v Philippe Bianconi>I choose pieces that I had already played or studied, <v Philippe Bianconi>but it was very hard during the last 2, <v Philippe Bianconi>3 months to keep everything together. <v Philippe Bianconi>I always had the impression that I had all the program in my arms, but <v Philippe Bianconi>that something was always falling down. <v Philippe Bianconi>And it was- it was hard. It was really hard. <v Philippe Bianconi>But it's okay because here we have <v Philippe Bianconi>time to relax a little and to work, to practice the next

<v Philippe Bianconi>program that we have to do. <v Philippe Bianconi>And of course, each- each finalist knows that is already a prize winner. <v Philippe Bianconi>So it's- it's great and it's hard <v Philippe Bianconi>in the same time, because the more the competition goes on <v Philippe Bianconi>and the more attention, the harder is the tension and the pressure. <v Philippe Bianconi>And it's- it's hard. <v Craig Allen>So what do you do to help relieve the tension when you're not playing? <v Philippe Bianconi>Well, I tried to- I try to sleep very much. <v Philippe Bianconi>I think it's very important. <v Philippe Bianconi>And just to relax and it's very nice because each contestant is <v Philippe Bianconi>in a family here in Fort Worth and <v Philippe Bianconi>everybody's so nice. And for me, my family, <v Philippe Bianconi>where I stay is so nice. <v Philippe Bianconi>They are such a marvelous people and I feel so comfortable with them. <v Philippe Bianconi>Like, if I was at home.

<v Craig Allen>I'd like to talk about your repertoire. <v Philippe Bianconi>I think I like especially concertos where the <v Philippe Bianconi>orchestra is important. <v Philippe Bianconi>I mean, in- in Brahms, the orchestra is very important. <v Philippe Bianconi>It's like a symphony with a solo instrument. <v Philippe Bianconi>And the orchestration in the Ravel concertos, in Prokofiev, is very important, <v Philippe Bianconi>much more important than in Chopin concertos, for example, <v Philippe Bianconi>where the piano is- does almost everything and the orchestra <v Philippe Bianconi>is just accompanying the piano. <v Philippe Bianconi>And I really like to- to <v Philippe Bianconi>dialogue- do you say dialogue? <v Craig Allen>Dialogue. <v Philippe Bianconi>Dialogue. <v Craig Allen>Or converse. <v Philippe Bianconi>Converse with the orchestra and to be almost <v Philippe Bianconi>inside the orchestra. <v Philippe Bianconi>I like it very much. <v Steve Allen>You've been listening to Philippe Bianconi in conversation with Craig Allen.

<v Steve Allen>Now let's turn to one of the preliminary round performances by this talented young French <v Steve Allen>pianist. This was recorded at the beginning of this past week during down <v Steve Allen>Bianconi's solo recital in the semifinal round. <v Steve Allen>The music is the "Night Images" from Ravel's "Mirrors."