ALBUMS: Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1; Rachmaninoff, Concerto No. 3.
MVC Rating: 5.0/$$$$$
The US has long been the ‘team to beat’ in the world. Ideally we are also the role model, or should be.
An honest striving for excellence leads us to our exceptionalism mindset. Obviously that can be for good or ill.
Racing to be first.
I suppose we should all be pushing toward being the best we can be, without hurting ourselves or others. (Gosh I’m starting to sound like Joan Baez or Melanie here.)
Good old competition can open eyes and push forward the truth.
Alabama native Jesse Owens won four gold medals, including the 100 meters and 200 meters in the 1936 Olympics, shattering German leader Adolf Hitler’s definition of Aryan superiority.
The Space Race with the U.S. landing on the moon i n 1969, shot the US ahead of the Soviets in one dramatic leap and pushed both sides to advance the technology.
A 23-year-old, 6-foot-4-inch Texan, blew away the competition in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958, getting a Russian standing ovation in the middle of the Cold War.
It’s interesting that Owens and Van Cliburn made their statements on the road in front of dumbfounded but appreciative witnesses, in Berlin and in Moscow.
The judges had to run it by Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev on whether to give the first prize to an American, according to Wikipedia citing the Washington Post and Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“Is he the best?” Khrushchev asked the judges. Yes, they replied.
“Then give him the prize!” he said.
So Van Cliburn was like the first rock star of classical music. Oh, that’s not true, That would more likely be Mozart.
But the fact that the baby faced tall hombre from Texas could defeat worldwide competition is pretty remarkable. Wonder if Cliburn ever goofed around with other genre’s like rock or ragtime or jazz?
In an an obituary upon his death in 2013, the Associated Press noted the 1958 Time magazine cover story described him as “Horowwitz, Liberace and Presley “all rolled into one.”
Wouldn’t it be cool to see Van Cliburn trading licks with Jerry Lee Lewis? Billy Preston. Or Keith Emerson, often considered the best keyboardist in rock
?
Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.