The Van Cliburn Competition - live streaming through June 10

@djslack

Well that is kinda interesting.

Cause he is one of the noteworthy people from my hometown also, I suspect in a different sense of “from”. And I got to meet him a few times, heard him play three times I think? But his being “from my hometown” came later in his life, he adopted FW.

Are you from Shreveport, I presume?

I think Kilgore, TX gets to claim a part of Cliburn also.

I am no pianist. But I have been told that he managed a way of playing inspired somewhat by singing, and that his performances managed to be both technically exquisite and able to bring audience to their feet.

In public, he was pure genial charm. The sort of person everyone loved to be around. In private, when young, he was said to be pure intensity: pacing back and forth, playing the music in his mind to finding more in a piece that he might bring out, and then struggling to bring his vision of the music to life on the keyboard.

He was said to be the sort of player who hated to sleep because it took him from practice. Practice was not dull, nor drudgery. Practice was exploration and discovery and challenge. Every time. So he usually loved practice, instead of seeing it as a difficult necessity.

From Wikipedia

Recognition in Moscow propelled Cliburn to international prominence.[10] The first International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958 was an event designed to demonstrate Soviet cultural superiority during the Cold War, on the heels of that country’s technological victory with the Sputnik launch in October 1957. Cliburn’s performance at the competition finale of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 on April 13 earned him a standing ovation lasting eight minutes.[3][11] When it was time to announce a winner, the judges were obliged to ask permission of the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to give first prize to an American. “Is he the best?” Khrushchev asked. “Then give him the prize!”[3][12] Cliburn returned home to a ticker-tape parade in New York City, the only time the honor has been accorded a classical musician. His cover story in Time magazine proclaimed him “The Texan Who Conquered Russia”.[13]

According to Wikipedia, he was the first classical artist to go platinum and triple-platinum in record sales. One of his recordings was the best-selling classical recording in the US and the world for more than a decade.

I knew someone who took part in the Cliburn competition many decades ago. He made it to the semi-finals. He had not expected to win, but was extremely pleased to have done so well.

@f00l
I remembered poorly. My friend made it to the finals.

@f00l Yes, from Shreveport. Interesting stuff. Other than remembering he was born here I don’t know too much about him.

@f00l Practice practice practice…

@eeterrific
I’m probably a bigger asshole nutcase than he is, so it evens out.

@Tadlem43
I’ve went to a few of them when they were on the TCU campus.

Now it’s a much bigger media event. I’ve never been at the Bass Hall for the performances. But I love to let it play when I’m doing other things.

@UncleVinny
I think this competition comes sans duets.

/giphy all apologies

@f00l But when you listen to some of the pieces, they’re so complicated, you’d think it was a duet…or more.

@Tadlem43
Watch the video feed. What they do with their hands …

@f00l Oh, wow! I know! Do you know Valentina Lisitsa? She’s awesome… watch this…it’s only 1:47 in length:

Or anything Krystian Zimerman does!
Two of my favs!

@Tadlem43
I don’t really follow classical music at all. I do love it. And once in a while I run into incredible stuff. If I had any sense, I would stream classical music 24/7.

I made some pretty lame attempts to be competent as a kid. Piano, cello, violin. I suppose I was ok. For a kid playing in school, I mean. I had a few friends who could really play.

Then in college I got to know a guy who was serious on piano. The school didn’t have anyone at the level to work with him, and they brought someone in twice a week to each em with him I think?

After college he went to Manhattan. We was, if I recall, employed doing something or other that gave him time to play. He once again had someone serious working with him.

Some of us used to, about once a month or so, just go listen to him practice. Now like a concert - he would tell us if he wanted us to really listen to something. More like, you would just let the music flow over you.

He was the one who made it to the Cliburn finals.

But beyond that I am way way out of my depth here. I just love having the music in the room with me.

Have you ever heard of our local classical radio station, WRR? It’s a great station. They publish the music schedule I think. They stream.

The only caveat: the station is owned by the City of Dallas. And as part of that, they broadcast all the Dallas City Council meeting and other official big political events live.

I can promise that you that you Do Not want to listen to any of that. Ever. Even if you live here. I am convinced that hearing that stuff )if you’re not involved in the issues) can destroy a human soul.

But other than that, they are a fantastic station.

WRR-FM.
101.1
They stream to a web browser. The streaming to a browser works in mobile.

They have their own smartphone apps. Some of their stuff is available on podcast.

I think you can get it to work with apps like stitcher or tune-in radio.

Warning, they do have ads. But their ads have a “feel”. They are right for the station atmosphere. Low key and dignified. The ads don’t make you wanna stop listening.

In the old days of cassettes and car radio, sometimes I put my car radio on the local NPR station for news, and just left it on WRR the rest of the time. If I wanted rock or jazz I usually went to cassette.

@f00l I listent to WRR frequently. I used to listen a lot more than I do now, and I used to be a lot more into Classical music than I am now, esp. when I was in college. I do enjoy it, though, and get lost on YouTube (when I take the time). That’s how I came across these two, and other, pianists. I listen to TuneIn and get most all of the local stations, WRR included.
It’s nice to meet another true music lover (as in the music is true lol). I hate this rap crap and vulgarity that they call ‘music’ these days. It’s a shame that something so soothing and brilliant, something that takes extrodinary talent and skill, something that can create honest emotion, has been reduced to gutteral spewing.

@Tadlem43
Rap isn’t my thing, tho I’ve heard a few rap songs I like for various reasons.

I have nothing against it as an art form; tho I have a great deal against it when it glamorizes violence, bullying, racism, dishonesty, misogyny, etc. But I think there is plenty of rap that doesn’t do any of that.

Whatever. Not my thing, fine with me if others are way into the stuff that isn’t morally offensive. I know of only a very few artists.

But I think really good jazz and classical can be seriously healthy, mentally, emotionally, and in strengthening a personal sense of purpose.

And I grew up with rock, and with my parents’ show times and crooner standards. I like those also.

It’s nice to have such creative variety.

@f00l I was fortunate to have grown up in much the same environment. I love music from the 40’s and 50’s, even show tunes.
You might be interested in the Fine Arts Chamber Players here in Dallas. Every year they have tons of free concerts. The Bancroft Family series is in the fall and into the new year. Coming up in July is the Basically Beethoven series (not all Beethoven, but a variety). Here is the link. I suggest just signing up for the Chamber’s mailing list and they’ll let you know when a concert is coming up. It’s great for kids because it isn’t a long, continuous concert, so it holds their attention better. It’s also usually casual dress.
http://www.fineartschamberplayers.org/calendars/basically-beethoven-festival/
In the Bancroft series, they also usually have a student perform (or ‘rising star’ as they call it). It’s really great!

@Tadlem43
I’ve become resistant to going to concerts in the past decade.

I might go at some point tho.

Now streamed concerts can be really nice.

KERA 90.1 (NPR), in the beginning was classical firing the day, and jazz at night, with the two big news shows also. It was great, but the were duplicating a lot of what WRR was doing. And thecollege stations at TCO and NTU were doing a lot of jazz.

So KERA swapped to a pretty much news and talk format.

The thing I miss the most from those days was, that on Christmas Eve, they used to broadcast the live audio feed of the Nine Lessons and Carols Christmas service from King’s College Chapel at Cambridge. I really missed that after they switched formats.

Now you can watch that on YouTube, but for a number of years it was doing difficult to get access to.

@2many2no

I think the performers often save their big “show” pieces for the finals. So the music may start to be closer to what many of us most enjoy hearing.

@f00l I love the finals. There isn’t so much dissonance (like 20th C stuff). I’m more of a Baroque, Romantic, Classic era(s) person.
I have my degree in music and when we studied atonal, etc. I couldn’t wait to be finished with it. I just don’t care for it.

@f00l I watched the Rachmaninoff by Favorin and the Schumann by Kim. They were quite impressive. Both pianists had a nice delicate touch.