Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; No. 1; Part 2

<v Speaker>[Emma Tahmizian performs Mozart's piano concerto number 24 in C Minor] <v Steve Allen>That was the piano concerto number 24 in C Minor

<v Steve Allen>K491 by Mozart. <v Steve Allen>The soloist was Emma Tahmizian with the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra <v Steve Allen>conducted by Stanisław Skrowaczewski. <v Steve Allen>And that was a final-round performance from the Van Cliburn International Piano <v Steve Allen>Competition, coming to you live from Fort Worth, Texas. <v Steve Allen>Something that occurs to me, Paul, why it never did before, I don't know, <v Steve Allen>[laughs] ineptitude breath, but it's that the conductor has a tremendous <v Steve Allen>responsibility to accommodate the- the art- the solo artist. <v Paul Hume>Well, it's the most intimate relationship in music. <v Paul Hume>And Mr. Skrowaczewski's being very gracious about this. <v Paul Hume>He has turned his music stand to a 90-degree angle so that he could see and be closer <v Paul Hume>to the soloist. <v Steve Allen>Well, in case you might have joined us or simply wish to be reminded, Emma Tahmizian <v Steve Allen>is the first of 6 finalists in the 1985 Van Cliburn competition. <v Steve Allen>Each will perform 2 concertos over the next 3 nights.

<v Steve Allen>These finalists have been selected from the 36 pianists that began <v Steve Allen>in this demanding competition nearly 2 weeks ago. <v Steve Allen>And on Sunday, we'll have the winners' ceremony and the announcement <v Steve Allen>of the competition's top 3 medalists. <v Paul Hume>Emma Tahmizian is 27 years old and she comes to us tonight from Bulgaria. <v Paul Hume>She would come to us any night from Bulgaria. <v Paul Hume>She was born there and did her studying there. <v Paul Hume>Her teachers were there. <v Paul Hume>And she has just finished playing the Mozart concerto. <v Paul Hume>She will return in the second half of tonight's concert to play the Prokofiev Third Piano <v Paul Hume>Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. <v Paul Hume>That is in contrast to the Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, which was, of course, the <v Paul Hume>appropriate accompanying body just now. <v Paul Hume>And it will again be led by Stanisław Skrowaczewski. <v Steve Allen>Paul Hume is, of course, one of the nation's most distinguished music critics, and <v Steve Allen>for that matter, even if he were not, inevitably, he would have opinions about <v Steve Allen>what he just heard. Perhaps for those not intimately familiar with such proceedings,

<v Steve Allen>I should explain that whether Paul loved that performance or had reservations <v Steve Allen>about it, as the case may be, could not have any possible effect on the judging <v Steve Allen>itself, partly because our comments are not heard by the judges. <v Steve Allen>They make their opinions solely on the basis of their own evaluations of what they do <v Steve Allen>hear performed. But with that proviso ja- uh, Paul, what about the <v Steve Allen>performance by Emma Tahmizian? What was your reaction? <v Paul Hume>Well, let me start off by saying, because this is the unusual circumstance of a <v Paul Hume>competition that we will hear the same concerto again tomorrow night played by the José <v Paul Hume>Feghali from Brazil and on Saturday night by Philippe Bianconi from France. <v Paul Hume>And I suspected in 3 performances we will hear 3 very different approaches <v Paul Hume>in style, in tradition, in energy, in the <v Paul Hume>entire approach to the work. <v Paul Hume>Uh I was impressed at the beginning with Miss Tahmizian's beautiful clarity and scales <v Paul Hume>and that sort of thing. The articulation in the first moment seemed to build for a while

<v Paul Hume>as it progressed. And then I thought, I'm not so sure. <v Paul Hume>The key- key signatures are very important to Mozart. <v Paul Hume>If he puts a work in C Minor, it means one thing. <v Paul Hume>If it's in D minor, it is human tragedy. <v Paul Hume>If it is in G minor, it is human sorrow. <v Paul Hume>If it is C minor, it is a very dramatic key as it was for Beethoven. <v Paul Hume>We could talk about this at length and maybe we will before we're through. <v Steve Allen>Fascinating. Well, you're listening, ladies and gentlemen, to the finals of the 1985 <v Steve Allen>Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, coming to you live from the theater center <v Steve Allen>of the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas. <v Steve Allen>This program is made possible by grants from the Mobil Oil Corporation and Tandy <v Steve Allen>Corporation, RadioShack. We'll pause briefly now for station identification. <v Steve Allen>This is the American Public Radio Network.