Moscow Nights: The Van Cliburn Story-How One Man and His Piano Transformed the Cold War (69 page)

157
  
Tanya Kryukova:
F.45, dm16No185/62, SHM. On the top of the envelope (no. 63) Kryukova wrote, “Quick, quick, quick!!!”

157
  
maid at a Moscow institution:
Shtilman, “In That Memorable April.”

158
  
“fourteen year old boy”:
Heinrich Neuhaus, untitled article,
SK
, July 7, 1960.

158
  
“whatever your soul tells you”:
Ibid.

9: “WE ARE IN ORBIT”

159
  
Max Frankel:
For his lively account of his three-year posting in Moscow, see
TOML
, 147–88.

160
  
Glavlit:
The “Main-Lit” agency was the Soviet government’s censorship vehicle and also monitored domestic publications.

160
  
“boyish-looking”:
Frankel, “Russians Cheer U.S. Pianist, 23.”

161
  
long dispatch marked “URGENT—SECRET”:
“Report from the Deputy Minister of Culture of the USSR S.V. Kaftanov on Awarding the First Prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition to the American Pianist Van Cliburn,” April 12, 1958, reprinted in
CCCP&C
, 47–48.

162
  
“That’s good playing”:
Ella Vlassenko, interview with the author.

163
  
clenched up:
Kirill Kondrashin, “An Extremely Hard Competition,”
SK
, April 16, 1958.

163
  
by common consensus, fared less well:
Ibid.

163
  “
Apart from brilliant musical gifts”:
Ibid.

164
  
spoke to . . . Mikhailov, who . . . went to Khrushchev:
Sergei Dorensky, interview with Lyuba Vinogradova. Dorensky is the source for the following exchange; see also
VC
, 117.

164
  
While he was in Hungary:
Van more than once remembered that Khrushchev had been in Romania, but records confirm that he was in Hungary April 2–10. Nikita Khrushchev,
Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev
, ed. Sergei Khrushchev, vol. 3,
Statesman
(University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007), 1013.

164
  
pushed back to the following afternoon:
Contestant Guide, Fonds 96m, Nos. 159–60, GM; undated press release, Tchaikovsky Competition Album, F.45, dm4No292/74, SHM.

165
  
“Van, you’ve won . . . conservatory now”:
VCL
, 112.

165
  
strode up to the piano:
The episode is described in E. Gobrynina, “Once Again in Moscow,”
Muzykalnaya Zhizn
12 (1960), 12–13. See also
VCL
, 112–13.

166
  
“Van’s won”:
VCL
, 113.

166
  
“WE ARE IN ORBIT”:
Ibid.

166
  
New York Times
front page:
This and the next two pieces ran on April 14. See also “Texas Pianist Wins in Moscow Over Reds” (AP),
New York Herald Tribune
, April 14, 1958; William J. Jorden, “Fruitful Exchanges: Triumph of U.S. Pianist in Moscow Provides Lessons in Building Goodwill,”
NYT
, April 17, 1958.

167
  
Allen Spicer stared wonderingly
: SH.

167
  
Dulles ordered officers to report:
Dulles to Moscow embassy, telegram, April 15, 1958; Box 2182, RG59, NACP.

167
  
KGB . . . FBI:
Khrushchev later told Van that the Soviets had been watching him: see chapter 18. The FBI’s interest in Van began before his return from Moscow, and he soon became aware that agents were interviewing his friends; see chapter 15.

168
  
leaked to the American press:
See for example
Gazette and Daily
(York, PA), April 15, 1958.

168
  
“use his good offices”:
VC
, 119.

168
  “
if I go in one day”:
“All-American Virtuoso.

10: “AMERICAN SPUTNIK”

169
  
gone to sleep:
Harriet Wingreen, interview with the author.

169
  
devotees swarmed over:
“‘Vanya’ Cliburn: Popular Does Not Mean Good”; Ellen Barry, “Basking in Russia’s Love Long After a Musical Triumph,”
NYT
, July 1, 2011; “Kilgore Pianist Rests After Wooing Moscow” (AP),
ST
, April 13, 1958;
VCL
, 118.

170
  
“So Cliburn didn’t win”:
Shtilman, “In That Memorable April.”

170
  
“Dear comrades and guests”:
Undated press release, Tchaikovsky Competition Album, F.45, dm4No292/74, SHM. The ceremony can be seen in Soviet newsreel footage: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/festival-of-tchaikowsky-music/.

171
  
“What is your father”:
Van recalls the conversation in
VC
, 125.

171
  
“Money doesn’t mean anything to me”:
“Word Leaks Out: Kilgore Pianist Wins Moscow Contest” (UP),
ST
, April 14, 1958.

171
  
basking in the attention:
Max Frankel, “U.S. Pianist Plays for Soviet Chiefs,”
NYT
, April 15, 1958.

171
  
Paul Moor snapped him:
Life
, April 28, 1958.

171
  
Norman Shetler watched Moor:
Interview with the author.

172
  
“Oh it’s you”:
VC
, 125; Harriet Wingreen, interview with the author.

172
  
“Have you heard the news”:
“Word Leaks Out.”

172
  
“Honey, she already knows”:
VCG. There are several variants on this story. In the same interview, Van says he called home after the ceremony; Chasins has him call directly upon hearing of his victory, which seems unlikely, as he was urgently required at the conservatory for the filming session and not even fame could work miracles with the international calling system.

172
  
“But I’ll be taking you”:
VCG; “Nobody Dares Speak Badly of Russia in Front of Me.”

173
  
“Khrushchev is here”:
VCG.

173
  
“Why are you so tall”:
The conversation was widely reported in the American press on April 15 and is reprinted in
VCL
, 114–15.

174
  
“I was listening to you”:
In an interview with
Trud
, Van quoted Khrushchev as saying, “Vanya, I listened to the second round of the competition on the radio, and I loved Chopin’s F minor Fantasy in your performance.” Van also recalled to Tim Madigan and Peter Rosen that Khrushchev said he had heard him playing the Chopin Fantasy on the radio, though not where, and he told
Argumenty I Fakty
that Khrushchev had heard him playing on the radio, though not what. In an interview with Paul Holdengräber, Van said that Khrushchev heard the Fantasy on the radio while in Romania. However, Abram Chasins reports Khrushchev as saying, “I have heard so much about your wonderful interpretation and wonderful playing of the Chopin F minor Fantasy . . . I love that work, and I am disappointed I didn’t get to hear it in the second preliminary.” And James Roos quotes Van as saying, “[Khrushchev] told me, ‘I’m so sorry I didn’t get to hear you in the semifinals. My daughter was there, and she told me what a beautiful performance you played of the Fantaisie in F Minor of Chopin. It’s one of my favorite pieces.’” As previously noted, Khrushchev was in Hungary, not Romania, at the time, but it is impossible to establish whether he heard Van. “Nobody Dares Speak Badly of Russia in Front of Me”; Tim Madigan, “Van Cliburn: Mementos of the Musician,”
FWS-T
, May 13, 2012; VCG; “‘Vanya’ Cliburn: Popular Does Not Mean Good”; Van Cliburn interviewed by Paul Holdengräber;
VCL
, 115; James Roos, “Stalled Van,”
Times-Picayune
(New Orleans), April 24, 1983.

175
  
Shostakovich opened the session:
The order of events and transcriptions of speeches are taken from “Winners of the International Tchaikovsky Competition,” undated press release, Tchaikovsky Competition Album, F.45, dm4No292/74, SHM.

175
  
guilty and discomposed:
VCG.

176
  
drop of bad taste:
Heinrich Neuhaus, untitled article,
SK
.

176
  
called him a genius:
M. Teroganyan, “Yesterday at Cliburn’s Concert,”
SK
, June 4, 1960.

176
  
“competition has demonstrated”:
“Winners of the Competition Speak.”

176
  
through a back door:
Mark Schubart, “Moscow Rolls Out Red Carpet,”
NYT
, April 20, 1958. Another time, says Schubart, the crowds were so great that he was unable to leave at all.

177
  
“Now you really have a sputnik”:
Frankel, “U.S. Pianist Plays for Soviet Chiefs.”

177
  
“American Sputnik, developed in secret”:
“American Sputnik.”

177
  
“Why did you let”:
Ella Vlassenko, in
Lev Vlassenko
: Articles, 8.

177
  
“Great man”:
Liu Shikun, interview with the author.

178
  
eagerly questioned Liu:
“Winners of the Competition Speak.”

178
  
“with grave courtesy”:
“American Sputnik.”

178
  
“You’ve been a very good politician”:
“Cliburn Continues as Toast of Soviet,”
NYT
, April 16, 1958.

178
  
“Here we are without a round table”:
Ibid.

178
  
“I really don’t care for any”:
“American Sputnik.”

178
  
Belgian queen left for home:
“Reception at the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR K.Y. Voroshilov in Honor of the Belgian Queen Elisabeth,” undated press release, Tchaikovsky Competition Album, F.45, dm4No292/74, SHM.