Pianists: The Artist as Culture Hero

Van Cliburn is not only a major pianist of the younger generation, but a culture hero as well—right up there with the Beatles and Marshall McLuhan.

Contrary to the more conventional patterns of the music business, he makes fine music that also sells. In the ten years since he won the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, he has sold 3,000,000 albums—more than 1,000,000 of them the version of the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto that vanquished Moscow. His collection, My Favorite Chopin, has been on the classical bestseller lists for 138 weeks.

Sensing the Currents. Now RCA has released Cliburn's first recording...

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