Moscow Nights: The Van Cliburn Story-How One Man and His Piano Transformed the Cold War (89 page)

at Great Hall, 267

Khrushchev’s comment to, 259–60

Kremlin reception and, 172

lunch for contestants, 177

response to Ike’s telegram, 186

supper hosted at home of, 187–88

at Tchaikovsky Competition, 147, 152

Tilley, Susan, 351, 352

Time

“The All-American Virtuoso,” 198–99

comparison of Van to other celebrities, 209

Khrushchev as Man of the Year on, 100

in Kilgore, 181, 182

letter to, 205

Moor’s coverage of Tchaikovsky Competition, 151, 193, 198–99

sign on Broadway, 202

on Van as cultural hero, 321

Toccata (Ravel), 71–72

Toccata (Schumann), 187

Tolstoy, Leo, 265

Tonight
(TV show), 71–72, 183

Tonight We Sing
(film), 65, 256, 267

Toscanini, Arturo, 76

Toscanini, Wanda, 76

Tristan und Isolde
(opera), 7

Triumphal Square (Moscow), 126

Trud,
171

Truman, Harry, 39, 46

Tu-114 (plane), 241–42, 248, 252

Tucker, Clifford, 69

Tupolev, Alexei, 247

Turkey, 288, 300, 301, 303

Tucson, Arizona, 226–27, 235, 285

Tucson Daily Citizen,
227

Twelfth Hungarian Rhapsody (Liszt), 34, 68, 116, 117, 145–46, 234

Twentieth Century-Fox, 245–47

The Twilight Zone
(TV Show), 280

U-2 program and incident, 257–62, 265–66, 268, 276, 278, 288

U-2s flying over Cuba, 298, 301

U-2 trespassing into Soviet airspace, 301–2

Ukraine, 84, 90, 232, 333

Ulbricht, Walter, 281

Union of Soviet Composers, 58, 138–39, 148

Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Ties, 272

United Nations

Cuban Missile Crisis and, 300, 301

Khrushchev and Soviet delegation to, 274, 275–77, 278

Khrushchev’s addresses to, 245, 276–77

Soviet exchange students visiting, 220

Soviet ribbing of U.S. at, 100

United Nations Chorus, 207

United States and Americans

in 1951, 39–40

Cold War and support of arts, 80–81

honors to Van at 50th anniversary, 364

Khrushchev’s threats to, 230

Khrushchev’s visit to (
See under
Khrushchev, Nikita)

love for Russian music, 11

love-hate relationship with Russia, 3–4

Marxist-Leninist view of, 137

moon landing, 325

Nifty Fifties, 99

Soviet musicians visiting, 79–80

space race with Soviet Union, 2, 96–99, 279, 303, 307, 325 (
See also sputniks
)

Van’s popularity in entertainment, 71–72, 214–17, 218–20, 222–28

at World Festival of Youth and Students, 91

Usovo, Khrushchev’s dacha at, 292

U.S. Seventh Army, 222

USSR.
See
Soviet Union

USSR
(magazine), 116

USSR State Symphony, 271

U.S. State Department

concerns about Van, 190–92, 221–22

Harvey’s gun incident and, 220

International Exchange Program and, 80–81, 86

Menshikov memorandum, 212–13

request for Van to play in India, 225

supper at Thompsons’ and, 187–88

Tchaikovsky Competition and, 91, 108

tour sponsored by, 290

U.S. Embassy’s communications with, 189, 190

Van’s cable from, 185

Van’s second trip to Soviet Union and, 262

World Festival of Youth and Students and, 91

“Van Cliburn at Home” (in
Ogonyok
), 204

Van Cliburn Day in Kilgore, 63–64, 225

Van Cliburn Day in NYC, 206–10

Van Cliburn Day in Shreveport, 225

Van Cliburn Fan Club, 2, 218

Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, 296–98, 337, 340, 343, 349, 355, 360

Van Club, 267, 314, 360–61, 362

Varela Cid, Sérgio, 297

Variety,
284

“Vecherniy Zvon” (Russian folk song), 9–10

Vertigo
(film), 246

Viardo, Vladimir, 337

Vietnam War, 313, 315, 322–24, 329, 330, 333–34

Village Vanguard, 38

Vilnius Conservatory, 192–93

Vishnevskaya, Galina, 141, 349, 353

Vivekananda, Swami, 237

Vlassenko, Ella, 113, 137, 146–47, 162–63, 176

Vlassenko, Irina and Natasha, 176

Vlassenko, Lev

as chosen one, 147, 148, 162

after Cold War, 360

Ella’s concern for, 137, 146–47

excused from first round of Tchaikovsky Competition, 133

Liszt Piano Competition win, 111

Liu Shikun and, 111, 112

Richter and, 149

selected to compete in Tchaikovsky Competition, 113–15

Shtarkman and, 130

supper at Thompsons’ and, 187–88

in Tchaikovsky Competition, 146–47, 149, 163

U.S. visit by, 254–55

Van’s request that he visit America, 194

Van’s second visit to Russia and, 264

Van’s win and, 175–76, 177

Voice of America, 29, 93, 316

Volkonsky, Irina, 203

von Meck, Nadezhda, 6

Voroshilov, Kliment, 50, 51, 90, 91, 173, 259

Voskhod 1
orbiter, 307

Voskresensky, Mikhail, 297

Votapek, Ralph, 297

Votkinsk, Russia, 179

Vyacheslav Molotov,
274

Wagner, Richard, 6–7, 21

Wagner, Robert F., 207–8, 215

Waldorf-Astoria, 244–45

Walker, Ron, 330

Walter, Bruno, 283–84

Wang Dongxing, 334, 335–36

Warsaw Pact, 86–87, 274

Washington summit, 352–58, 360

Watergate, 339

Waters, Bob, 24

Wayne, John, 245, 246, 253

weapons race, 120

wedding ceremony incident, 226

West Side Story
(Hollywood musical), 80

We Will Meet Again
(TV show), 272

What’s My Line?
(game show), 217, 223, 321

White, Marjorie, 227–28

White, Newton H., III, 227–28

White House

Bolshoi Ballet dancers invited to, 303

Khrushchev at, 243

Khrushchev’s cable to, 299

Kremlin’s relations with, 288

“Moscow Nights” played at, 357, 358

piano at, 251

reception for Tchaikovsky Competition winners, 315

Scali’s tip to, 300

telephone hotline with Kremlin, 305

Van’s first visit to, 211

Van’s forgotten attire and, 320–21

White House Festival of the Arts, 313

Whittlesey, Mrs. Raymond, 64

“Widmung” (Schumann-Liszt), 71, 354

Will, George, 357–58

Wilson, Harold, 339

Wingreen, Harriet, 124, 152, 169, 172

Winston, Elizabeth, 200, 211, 216

Wodlinger, David, 108–9

Wood, Natalie, 245

World Federation of Democratic Youth, 91

World War I, 15–16, 33

World War II, 11, 19

WQXR, 67, 215

Yakovlev, Alexander, 357

Yarborough, Ralph, 212

Ye Jianying, 317, 319, 329, 334, 335–36, 349

Yellow River Concerto,
335, 336

Yin Chengzong, 287, 335, 336

Yugoslavia, 230

Zaremba, Tom, 341, 344, 352, 363

Zharov, Sergei, 9

Zhou Enlai, 229, 329, 335

Zhukov, Georgy, 61, 90, 91

Zimbalist, Efrem, 132, 175

About the Author

NIGEL CLIFF
is a historian, biographer, critic, and translator. His first book,
The Shakespeare Riots
, was a finalist for the National Award for Arts Writing and was chosen as one of the
Washington Post
’s best books of the year. His second book,
The Last Crusade: The Epic Voyages of Vasco da Gama
, was a
New York Times
Notable Book. His most recent book is a new translation of
The Travels
by Marco Polo. A former film and theater critic for the London
Times
and contributor to the
Economist
, he writes for a range of publications, including the
New York Times Book Review.
He lives in London.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at
hc.com
.

Also by Nigel Cliff

The Shakespeare Riots: Revenge, Drama, and Death in Nineteenth-Century America

The Last Crusade: The Epic Voyages of Vasco da Gama

The Travels
by Marco Polo

(editor, translator)

Credits

COVER DESIGN BY ROBIN BILARDELLO

COVER PHOTOGRAPH © ITAR-TASS PHOTO AGENCY / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Copyright

MOSCOW NIGHTS. Copyright © 2016 by Nigel Cliff. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.