Van Cliburn

Chopin Polonaise in A flat(YouTube video)

Legendary pianist Van Cliburn, the only solo musician to receive a ticker-tape parade in New York City and the first classical musician to sell a million albums, died Wednesday morning in his Fort Worth, Texas, home. The 78-year-old Texan soared to world fame in 1958 when he won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, at the height of the Cold War.

 The 23 year-old was just a few years out of New York's famed Juilliard School when the first Tchaikovsky piano competition beckoned from Moscow. His performance of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto was a stunner.

“In some ways, there was a perfect cultural storm taking place at that event, because it was the middle of the Cold War, the Russians had launched Sputnik, [students] were diving under desks at school in case the Russians dropped the atomic bomb."

Cliburn shrugged off all the attention, saying he was just a musical servant. Richard Rodzinski says the pianist took the word seriously. " 'Serving' is a big word in his vocabulary," says Rodzinski. "He refers to presidents of the United States who serve a term, a queen who will serve her people. He feels he is serving the purpose of being able to bring beautiful music as he sees it, from his garden to an audience."

Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, begun with the donation of a family friend, was first held in 1962. Considered one of the most prestigious piano competitions, the Van Cliburn is held every four years in Texas.                                                                                    (from  Bill Zeeble, http://www.npr.org/blogs)