# Van Cliburn



## Sonata

My piano teacher's list of three pianists to listen to: Van Cliburn, Horowitz, and Gould. I don't know as much about Van Cliburn as I do the other two. So, hit me with some of your essential recordings of his. Talk about his technique, etc. I have read that he had a very "singing" tone to his music as he would sing while he played in practice. A technique I'll probably use myself as I go-actually already have-though I don't have a good singing voice!


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## joen_cph

There has been a lot of rave about him, and he did collaborate with Kondrashin and other interesting musicians. I can´t say that the recordings are really among my favourites though, they are generally somewhat subdued or "objective", the Liszt sonata on RCA being an example, but I guess it´s time to revisit some of them, perhaps to revise my opinion ... the Rach 3, Tchaikovsky 1 and Brahms 1+2 are among the most famous ones.

edit: the youtube Liszt sonata movie from Moscow 1960 is very different from the RCA and better, though certainly not without technical faults


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## Trumpetcat

My mom's friend's relative was one of Cliburn's music teachers! That's all I know, my mom met her too. I wish she had told me her name.


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## Op.123

This was truly an awful loss to the musical world.
He is still my (or one of my) favourite pianists. In my opinion, nobody before or since has ever surpassed the recordings of: Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto, Beethoven's 5th piano concerto, Schumann's piano concerto, Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto, Brahms's 2nd piano concerto, Beethoven's 4th piano concerto, Prokofiev's 3rd piano concerto and MacDowell's 2nd piano concerto. I am sure there are many more.

R.I.P.


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## moody

Burroughs said:


> This was truly an awful loss to the musical world.
> He is still my (or one of my) favourite pianists. In my opinion, nobody before or since has ever surpassed the recordings of: Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto, Beethoven's 5th piano concerto, Schumann's piano concerto, Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto, Brahms's 2nd piano concerto, Beethoven's 4th piano concerto, Prokofiev's 3rd piano concerto and MacDowell's 2nd piano concerto. I am sure there are many more.
> 
> R.I.P.


You're at it again with the sweeping statements. Have you heard Earl Wild's versions of the Rachmaninoff concerti,do you know Eugene List's recording of the two MacDowell concerti---and there are other contenders.
As far as Van Cliburn is concerned there are not many more unfortunately.


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## Ukko

moody said:


> You're at it again with the sweeping statements. Have you heard Earl Wild's versions of the Rachmaninoff concerti,do you know Eugene List's recording of the two MacDowell concerti---and there are other contenders.
> As far as Van Cliburn is concerned there are not many more unfortunately.


I am happy to respect _Burroughs_ IMO, but it does make me wonder what his references are. That 'Emperor' is my favorite 'desensationalized' performance, but the others call for stronger caveats. Pumped up Elegies are OK, but they really should go into the grave with the casket.


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## moody

Hilltroll72 said:


> I am happy to respect _Burroughs_ IMO, but it does make me wonder what his references are. That 'Emperor' is my favorite 'desensationalized' performance, but the others call for stronger caveats. Pumped up Elegies are OK, but they really should go into the grave with the casket.


Elegies ? To what are you referring ?


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## Ukko

moody said:


> Elegies ? To what are you referring ?


In this case, the one by _Burroughs_. Some folks call them eulogies, but this is a music forum.


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