Moscow nights The Van Cliburn story : how one man and his piano transformed the Cold War

Nigel Cliff

Book - 2016

A dramatic account of the life of Cold War pianist Van Cliburn describes his early years as a musical prodigy in Texas and the ways he charmed both American and Russian audiences, helping to ease tensions between the two nations.--Publisher's description.

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Subjects
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York, NY : Harper [2016]
Language
English
Main Author
Nigel Cliff (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
viii, 452 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780062333162
Contents unavailable.
Review by New York Times Review

IT'S HARD FOR a baby boomer like me to imagine growing up unaware of Van Cliburn, but Nigel Cliff, 46, did. A historian and biographer who was a film and theater critic for The Times of London, he writes that he became aware of the Cliburn story only when he read about the man's death in 2013. I couldn't write that paragraph without thinking about Cliburn's recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 and the corner of my parents' living room dominated by our Garrard record changer, the kind with a "pusher platform" for a whole stack of vinyl. That LP got heavy play in our house, and in a lot of other houses. It was the first classical recording to sell more than a million copies. Cliburn's 1961 album "My Favorite Chopin" was on the Billboard classical best-seller list for months. But by the time Cliff was growing up, Cliburn played less and less, and the critics complained more and more. They said his repertoire was limited, his technique was superficial and he was not maturing as an artist. In 1986, Donal Henahan wrote in this newspaper: "There must be many young music Esteners to whom Van CEburn is merely a name in American history, like John Philip Sousa." Nowadays, he's not even much of a name. The first time I did a search of "Van Cliburn," Google shot back the primordial did-you-mean question: Van Claiborne? So one of Cliff's challenges is to present a basic biography of this "man-child who was old when young and young when old." Cliburn's story - how he rocketed to fame by winning the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at age 23 - has been told before, in 16 excellent pages toward the beginning of Joseph Horowitz's "The Ivory Trade" (1990) and in Howard Reich's "Van Cliburn" (1993). But their emphasis was more on the music than on diplomacy and the Cold War. By the time Cliburn arrived in Moscow in the spring of 1958, the United States had countered the Soviets' Sputnik 1 and 2 with Explorer 1, but the psychological damage had been done. There was a space race as well as an arms race. As for the piano race, everyone assumed a Russian would win, probably 29-year-old Lev Vlassenko. But Cliburn captivated the crowds and caused a problem for the judges: Could they award him the gold medal? As Cliff writes, "in a system where all decisions went through the party, there was only one way to avoid blame: Refer it upward." One of the judges, the pianist Emil Gilels, went to the culture minister, who went to Khrushchev, who did not interfere. If the young American is the best, he said, go right ahead, give him the prize. Cliburn remains the only American pianist who has won the gold medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition. Cliff argues that "a powerful new weapon exploded across the Soviet Union" when Cliburn sat down at the piano - "love: one man's love for music, which ignited an impassioned love affair between him and an entire nation." It was anything but Elicit. Max Frankel, who as a New York Times correspondent was a witness to Cliburn's triumph, wrote later that "the Soviet pubEc celebrated CEburn not only for his artistry but for his nationality; affection for him was a safe expression of affection for America." Like so many subtitles, Cliff's ("The Van Cliburn Story - How One Man and His Piano Transformed the Cold War") oversimplifies a more nuanced account. Cliff did not turn up evidence that Cliburn ever passed secret diplomatic dispatches back and forth; as he writes, Cliburn may have been "courted by presidents and Politburo members," but he was also "watched by the F.B.I. and K.G.B." Mostly Cliburn served as a relief valve, easing the pressures his audiences felt. He did so again in 1987, when Mikhail Gorbachev went to Washington for arms-control talks with President Ronald Reagan. After a particularly difficult day, Cliburn played at the White House. When he struck up the Russian melody "Moscow Nights" as an encore - Raisa Gorbachev wanted to hear the Tchaikovsky concerto, but there was no orchestra - Cliff writes that the evening "turned into a full-throated singalong." Everyone went to bed in a much better mood. JAMES BARRON is a reporter for The Times and the author of "Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand."

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 2, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Cliff's (Holy War, 2011) charming biography of pianist and international sweetheart Van Cliburn will send readers to YouTube clips to help them understand how this long, tall Texan rivaled Elvis in popularity, most especially in the Soviet Union. In 1958, Cliburn won Moscow's first International Tchaikovsky Competition, with the New York Times' front page blaring, U.S. Pianist, 23, Wins Soviet Contest. The Russians thronged the stages then and whenever Cliburn performed in the USSR, as he did many times, chanting the nicknames, Vanya, Vanyusha! What makes this book so compulsively readable is Cliff's understanding and descriptions of the music itself, which add a thrilling delight to a story that is already thrilling and delightful. Cliburn seems honestly kind and nice to wigs big and small, to his mother, to his friends. Colorfully detailed chapters intermix the often grisly situation in the Soviet Union with Cliburn's life in the U.S., attending Juilliard, performing, and remaining close to his Texas roots but also returning to the Soviet Union and his many Soviet admirers. Cliff also covers views on music, composers, and events during the Cold War; how can that chilly time seem so heartwarming? It's Vanya all the way in a biography for music lovers, Cold War devotees, and all readers seeking a true feel-great story.--Kinney, Eloise Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Cliff brilliantly weaves together the politics, personalities, and pianism surrounding the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958. This portrait of a Cold War moment focuses on two remarkable people. The first is Van Cliburn, the courtly, eager 23-year-old from Kilgore, Tex., who combined a winning American openness with a heartfelt love of Russian music. The second is Nikita Khrushchev, an eccentric peasants' son who survived Stalin and went on to undo the worst of his oppressions. Riding high on the success of Sputnik and Soviet nuclear advances, Khrushchev saw the proposed music competition as a way to assert the U.S.S.R.'s cultural preeminence. The program was heavily weighted to Russian music, and many potential competitors felt that a foreigner would not be allowed to win. But Cliburn's mother and teachers had instilled in him a love of Russian repertoire that Moscow audiences grasped from round one. Khrushchev railed against Stalin's cult of personality but did not stand in the way of Cliburn's. This is a well-researched, fascinating look at a special relationship between Van Cliburn and the U.S.S.R. that lasted through low points (the downed U-2, the Cuban missile crisis) and high ones, all the way up to the 1987 summit that resulted in eliminating most of the world's strategic nuclear arsenal. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

This book examines one of the most iconic moments of the Cold War: Van Cliburn's (born Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr.) 1958 victory in the piano contest at the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Historian and critic Cliff (The Shakespeare Riots) combines biography and history, telling the story of the small-town Texas boy and his improbable triumph, as well as the larger history of Soviet-American relations. Cliburn's career intersected in an unusual way with events in the Soviet Union, and he had a warm relationship with many Russians, including Nikita Khrushchev. Cliburn played for U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon, often at official state functions, and by request for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, during the 1987 Ronald Reagan--Gorbachev summit. Some writing on Cliburn (such as Howard Reich's The Van Cliburn Story) tend toward hagiography, but Cliff presents a sympathetic yet rounded portrait of the pianist-devout Baptist, devotee of astrology, conservative yet gay, a builder of international goodwill but often politically naïve. Cliff's sources include many Russian-language materials. VERDICT Highly recommended for readers interested in music (especially classical music and the piano) and the history of the Cold War.-Bruce R. Schueneman, Texas A&M Univ. Lib., Kingsville © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.