Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3; Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3

Cliburn, Van

album cover

The Concert Pianist as Rock Star

Van Cliburn arrived at Carnegie Hall on May 19, 1958, as the classical-music equivalent of a rock star. The Fort Worth, Texas–based pianist had recently won the first Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow, besting his hosts at their national music during a tense moment of the cold war. Upon his return, he was greeted with a ticker tape parade in New York City (he remains the only classical figure to receive one), and shortly after became the first classical musician to sell a million copies of a recording.

At Carnegie Hall, Cliburn, then twenty-three, performed one of the most demanding pieces in the classical repertoire—Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, a work of dazzling interlocked melodies and sudden mood changes. He caught every curve of it: Throughout this live performance, Cliburn has a sparkle in his touch and a rare knack for making the intricate fingerwork sound like an impulsive caper. The accompanying Symphony of the Air, the New York ensemble that rose from the ashes of the NBC Symphony Orchestra, picks up his slight changes of emphasis. At times during the folk songs of the first movement, the ensemble seems to sway behind Cliburn, leaning into the supporting passages with exactly the same amount of elbow grease the pianist applies. The result is a transfixing, unified reading.

While the pace of the Rachmaninoff requires Cliburn to scamper, the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3, the most frequently heard Prokofiev piano music, demands more drama. The pianist delivers the phrase that becomes the primary theme with a precise articulation that remains the industry standard—to this day, few snap off chords the way Cliburn does on this performance, which was recorded in 1960 with the lively Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

These recordings catch Cliburn at a lyrical peak. Alas, the adulation apparently got to him: Critics who'd heard him early on complained that his later interpretations never went anywhere different, that he essentially stopped growing as an artist. Which makes this recording all the more essential: It shows Cliburn at a moment when he was more than the culture's latest unlikely "It" boy. He was a musician in full control of his art.

Genre: Classical
Released: 1960, RCA
Key Tracks: Rachmaninoff: first movement (Allegro ma non tanto). Prokofiev: first movement (Andante).
Another Interpretation: Martha Argerich: The Great Pianists Series
Catalog Choice: Piano Concertos by Beethoven and Schumann
Next Stop: Richard Goode: Beethoven: The Late Piano Sonatas.
Book Pages: 173–174