Discussing the Cliburn with Brad Hill

Pianist Di Wu performing at the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition.

Photograph used by permission; © 2009 Altré Media

From May 22 to June 7, the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition took place in Texas. Started in 1962 by Van Cliburn himself, who stunned the Cold War world of 1958 by becoming the first American to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Cliburn has become a major event in the world of classical music. The participants are chosen through an exhaustive process, and the winners receive enormous media exposure, professional management, and up to three years of worldwide concert engagements. Its prestige is increased by the fact that it happens only once every four years. Extraordinarily, this year, the entire competition was broadcast live on the internet. I watched a lot of the coverage, becoming more and more obsessed as it came down to the finals.

Every performance was archived and is still available for viewers to watch and hear - with headphones the sound quality is excellent - and in addition there are video portraits of the performers, a lot of other background material, and an official competition blog for information and discussion of the competition.

That's where I met Brad Hill, who seemed to be a like-minded avid observer and classical music lover. After the award announcement, which was definitely controversial, I wrote to Brad and asked if he'd like to discuss the Cliburn with me here, and he graciously agreed. Over the next few days I'll be posting our conversation. We tried to talk about the competition and related topics in a personal way that both musicians and non-musicians would find interesting. In particular, we both felt that the Cliburn's innovative and generous webcast format bodes well for the future of music and the other arts that so many of us are worried about, and toward the end of the conversation we talk about that some more. We'd both love to hear your thoughts, and are happy to try to answer any questions you might have!

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Beth: Brad, I liked your comments on the competition thread and appreciated the fact that you had tracked me down on Twitter! Some of the topics I thought we might talk about are why the Cliburn is exciting, why we both watched it, what it means in classical music today, and how we felt about the vote. But what do you think people would find interesting? And are you a pianist yourself?

Brad: Most people would probably wonder why anyone would get obsessed with a piano competition online. I went to a music school and have done a bit of competing myself, so I have an endless appetite for piano music -- especially live piano concerts. And this one is like the Olympics. The foundation scours the globe for the 30 best pianists; each one must prepare five hours of music; and there is intense unfolding drama over about three weeks. They hold it every four years. I dug in last time (2005), and this year the webcasts were really well done.

What attracts you to the Cliburn? Do you have a musical background, or do you simply love piano music?

Beth: I've played since I was five, but not on anything like this level. I'm more of an all-around, avid amateur musician - I've studied piano, flute, and voice and sing now in a semi-professional choir. My piano playing is mostly classical and for pleasure, but I do practice! My hat's off to you for competing - you must be pretty good. Do you play a lot now?

Brad: I make some time to practice, and wish I could do more. I started when I was six, and went to the Manhattan School of Music. Garrick Ohlssoh, William Wolfram and I grew up near each other, at roughly the same time. They both took the piano a lot further than I did. :) In fact, I first got interested in piano competitions when Garrick won the Warsaw Chopin, in 1970. I was still in high school. I did some studying with the teacher who prepared him for the Chopin, then it was off to conservatory.

Beth: I admire that tremendously, and I'm glad you still find time to play and still enjoy it; I know some people who were very very good but somehow lost the love. Maybe they were pushed too much; in one case it was because of severe stage fright. For me, music is very personal but it's also a bit like doing a sport with people who are better - they spur you on and help you progress. I've always been around musicians; my aunt is a professional, my father is a good natural musician who plays and sings, so there was always music in our house; my college roommate and several close friends were piano majors. I was always trying to keep up, at least to some degree, and maybe that's still true. Even though I'm 56 now, I'm still working on it, and improving. Not many things in life give you that kind of pleasure and absorption all the way through.

I first got interested in the Cliburn when I saw the documentary from the year that Olga Kern won, and also from reading a great article in the NY Times a while ago about the associated amateur competition. Last year in Montreal I got very wrapped up in the international organ competition and went to a number of the live sessions. There was also a piano competition with the symphony, and I listened on the radio and went to the finals. But this was the first time I've gotten into an online experience of a competition. The webcast coverage was excellent, I thought, and I have to admit I'm sorry it's only once in four years! What did you think about the coverage? Did you really watch ALL of it?

Brad: I did watch all of it until the final weekend, when I left town for a wedding. One great aspect of the online presentation is the archive. I was able to catch up when I got back. Anyone can go there now and watch all the performances. It's an amazing body of recorded music,free of charge.

I love the community feeling fostered by the Cliburn Foundation. In 2005 and this year they put up a blog on which anyone could leave comments. That place got more populated as the contest went on. It also got pretty fierce in there, with plenty of arguments about the performances, who should win, etc.. At least two concert pianists that I know of were in the thick of it, and dozens of other people were expert listeners and lifelong lovers of classical music. The blog, by itself, was great theater even as the  competition drama was unfolding on stage!

(to be continued tomorrow)

Comments

[lucas]

Oh, wonderful, wonderful. I watched a bit of the Cliburn online in the opening stages this year, and I remember (a year or two ago) enjoying the documentary that was made of the 2005 competition.

I suppose I'll go back and look at some of archived footage. I agree that it bodes well for classical music. In fact, I'd say any art that isn't seriously engaging with the internet, that isn't seriously thinking about how large parts of its dissemination can be shifted online, is toying with obsolescence. So this is a good sign.

My favorite classical music site online is medici.tv which broadcasts things like the Verbier Festival, BBC competitions, and Radio France concerts in free, high quality video. Careful about going there though: you could be lost in the archives for hours.

More thoughts about competitions and young musicians later. Looking forward to seeing this conversation unfold.

[Anne Gibert]

I wish I could have watched it. I didn't know that it was online, but anyhow I was in Alaska. I did hear some of the performances on the NPR program "Performance Today". I have no musical credentials, but I love classical music, and I have musical grandchildren so I am always interested. I'm eager to read more of your conversations.

[beth]

Lucas, how did I know you'd like this? Maybe because I heard about the online coverage from you? But I didn't know about medici.tv. This may not be a good thing for my productivity curve.

Hi Anne - thanks! - the great thing is that you can go there anytime and see the performances on your computer. I don't know how long the archive will be up, but I'm sure it will be there for a good while. Even if you just watched one or two of the final round solo recitals, or the concerti with orchestra, I'm sure you'd enjoy it very much.

[Vivian]

The archive is no longer available, it was only up until June 7.

[beth]

Yes, it is, I just checked, but it can be confusing...you may have to download Silverlight for it to play on your computer, but what you have to do is click on "FINALS" or "SEMIFINALS", below the video window, and then click on the performer's photo. A window representing the specific performance, with the title of the work(s) played should pop up, and you can select this and it will load and play in the window. You can also make the screen fullsize. There are several instances of each performer's photo in the band at the bottom of the screen, each representing a different appearance (chamber work, concerto, solo recital). To access all of them, click on the arrow pointing to the right, on the far right of the screen next to the performers' photos.

[Vivian]

Thanks Beth I saw the competition dates and missed one of the commas in the sentence on the website. After installing new browser I'm with you all... more and more...