Many of us were saddened to hear of the passing of Van Cliburn on Wednesday, February 27. A pianist who excelled in music of the romantic repertoire, Cliburn rocketed to fame when he won the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, held in Moscow in 1958 at the height of the cold war. Upon his return, he was not just a musical figure but one who took on an additional social and political meaning. Cliburn's mai…
SOURCE: The New York Public Library at 05:08AM on February 28, 2013