Download The Van Cliburn Story AudioBook Free
When a lanky, unpretentious, incredibly gifted 23-year-old Texan had taken Moscow by musical storm in 1958, it launched a sensational profession that commenced at the age of 13 and was to span over four years. At the elevation of the Freezing Warfare, this friendly, openhearted pianist enchanted the hearts of People in america and Russians likewise with playing that was more about "personal communications than exhibitionistic virtuosity". Being successful the Soviet-sponsored Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition immediately thrust Truck Cliburn into politics as well as artistic pressures, attention, adulation, and scrutiny that might have sabotaged any young artist who lacked the self-assurance and conviction of Truck Cliburn. After an 11-calendar year retreat into personal privacy, the myth that bounded the name Truck Cliburn in the 1950s and '60s became legend along with his triumphant reentry in 1987 - an event that was to epitomize the poetic mother nature of Van's lifetime. Responding to an invitation to perform for Mikhail and Raisa Gorbachev at a state dinner, Van once again demonstrated that music is indeed the universal dialect of understanding and it is with the capacity of uniting our diverse civilizations. Bounding off the program after his performance to kiss Nancy Reagan and Raisa Gorbachev, Truck responded to Raisa's request for more music by playing the cherished Soviet music "Moscow Evenings" - the same nostalgic music he had learned and performed during his first amazing trip to Moscow in 1958. As an incredible number of Americans watched on the television screens, the usual staid state supper dissolved into a moving memory space of Van singing combined with the Gorbachevs as the complete room was beat by tears. Russia and America signed up with hands and hearts in that one historical moment.
