Word: cliburn
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...life was never geared to the concert stage," said Cliburn in an interview before the tour began. "My life was always bigger than the stage." He would rather attend the opera, he said, than play the piano in public, and in conversation he preferred repeating his mother's homey aphorisms ("Choose carefully which works to learn, and never let them go; they will always be your friends") to debating the merits of competing pianists. Even though he was going back on tour, Cliburn seemed if anything less interested in the life of a traveling virtuoso than he had in years...
...effects of those nerves were on display at the Hollywood Bowl. The concert began promisingly enough, with Cliburn firmly projecting Honest Abe's noble sentiments in a Texas twang. And once he wrapped his huge hands around the thundering opening chords of the Tchaikovsky, it appeared that Cliburn really was back. The formidable technique was still there, and the distinctive ringing tone. Cliburn really is a throwback to the piano's Golden Age of blazing virtuosity and emotional extravagance. He remains one of the handful of players -- and just about the only American -- who can conjure up the world...
...performance, however, suffered from an obvious lack of rehearsal, with the pianist and the conductor, Vassily Sinaisky, unable to agree on basic matters of tempo: Cliburn finished the first movement a good half-beat ahead of the band. The andantino movement went well enough, but disaster struck in the blazing finale, which fell apart in a tug-of-war -- Cliburn pulling ahead, Sinaisky dragging back. The battle increased in intensity until, all at once, Cliburn suddenly appeared to lose interest, and the piece almost collapsed near the end in a welter of notes...
...Cliburn watcher, therefore, could really have been surprised when the pianist failed to answer the bell for Round 2. The Rachmaninoff, which he says is his favorite concerto, is even more difficult than the Tchaikovsky. Cliburn calls it "a one-act opera in which the soloist sings all the roles...
...Cliburn Comeback '94 an incipient disaster? Far from it. The pianist's spokesman says the tour will continue, with the Rachmaninoff. And however well or poorly he plays, Cliburn will afford new audiences a chance to hear what pianism in the grand manner is all about. The nuggets in the Tchaikovsky may have been few, but they were choice, and who among his contemporaries can match him in majesty, despite his limited range? Cliburn will never be the pianist we all thought he should be. But that is our problem...