Books, Arts & Manners: Faces in the Crowd

The summer began for me with an onslaught of 38 pianists from all points of the compass. They descended on Fort Worth, Texas, at the end of May for the eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Begun 27 years ago to honor one of America’s authentic musical heroes, the Cliburn has grown to the point that its only real rivals are Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition and Warsaw’s Chopin.

What made this year’s Cliburn sizzle was the return to the contest circuit of the Soviets, now freer to roam westward in these days of glasnost. Let’s face it—the Russians have long produced most of the world’s foremost keyboard virtuosos, from Anton Rubinstein to Vladimir Horowitz and Sviatoslav Richter. The last decade has brought a resurgence of Russian pianism with an exhilarating crop of artists that includes Andrei Gavrilov, Aleksandr Toradze, Vladimir Viardo, and that Soviet Wunderkind Yevgeny Kissin, 17 years old and just being discovered in the West. To their names add those of Aleksei Sultanov, who won the gold medal at this year’s Cliburn, and Aleksandr Shtarkman, who was inexplicably consigned to fourth place by the Cliburn’s erratic jury, but who is easily Sultanov’s equal as a technician and his better as a musician.

JA

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John Ardoin

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The summer began for me with an onslaught of 38 pianists from all points of the compass. They descended on Fort Worth, Texas, at the end of May for the eighth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Begun 27 years ago to honor one of America’s authentic musical heroes, the Cliburn has grown to the point that its only real rivals are Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition and Warsaw’s Chopin.

What made this year’s Cliburn sizzle was the return to the contest circuit of the Soviets, now freer to roam westward in these days of glasnost. Let’s face it—the Russians have long produced most of the world’s foremost keyboard virtuosos, from Anton Rubinstein to Vladimir Horowitz and Sviatoslav Richter. The last decade has brought a resurgence of Russian pianism with an exhilarating crop of artists that includes Andrei Gavrilov, Aleksandr Toradze, Vladimir Viardo, and that Soviet Wunderkind Yevgeny Kissin, 17 years old and just being discovered in the West. To their names add those of Aleksei Sultanov, who won the gold medal at this year’s Cliburn, and Aleksandr Shtarkman, who was inexplicably consigned to fourth place by the Cliburn’s erratic jury, but who is easily Sultanov’s equal as a technician and his better as a musician.