Word: rachmaninoffs
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...midst of the primordial chaos of much of his playing, Taylor quiets his Units with a nod of the head and spontaneously composes slow, lyrical movements which, taken off of the record and written down, would stand up to Chopin, Rachmaninoff, or Stravinksy...
...first concert, held at the Hollywood Bowl, the nearly neurasthenic Cliburn experienced what he called "light-headedness," and the program was delayed while a doctor took his blood pressure. Eventually he returned to the stage, sheepishly informing the audience of 14,000 that he felt unable to play the Rachmaninoff concerto, and so substituted a series of solo encores, including a Szymanowski etude, Liszt's arrangement of Schumann's song Widmung, Debussy's La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune and the Chopin C-sharp minor Scherzo. And then he was gone...
...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 of Josef Lhevinne, Rachmaninoff and Horowitz...
...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...