Music: The All-American Virtuoso

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When the big news of Van's victory broke from Moscow, one of the first congratulatory cables came from the Kilgore National Bank. Van broke into a slightly twisted smile. "Maybe," he said, "they have more cause to congratulate me than anybody else." Within hours Columbia Artists' Vice-President William Judd was on the transatlantic phone with honied words. In the first shock of becoming the hottest musical commodity in the world, Van shuttled between awe and the depressing idea of "all those people making money out of me." But as the offers came pouring in, he began to display flashes of a sound horse-trading instinct. When he heard that both Columbia Records and RCA Victor (and every other big record company) were scrambling to sign him, he told Judd to play them against each other, get him a contract "that'll guarantee that if I go in one day and want to play Clair de lune, they'll have to record it." Last week RCA Victor gave him one of the fattest contracts ever offered a young artist, with built-in guarantees for "longterm security." Within hours Van's concert fee jumped from $1,000 to $2,500 plus, shortly became a deal whereby Cliburn gets 60% of the receipts. Dallas outstripped everybody else by booking a concert from which Van stands to walk away with $9,000. Said the Dallas Symphony's President Mrs. Samuel Shelburn with a double helping of Texas pride: "We want to be the first to pay him his biggest fee."

Perils. In developing into the major artist most people think he will become, Van could be either helped or handicapped by his Moscow triumph. It has placed him in a position to command big fees and security; it has given him the freedom to play as little or as much as he pleases, and to pick his repertory. But at the same time it has cast him in a unique musical role. "He may be the first man in history," says a friend, "to be a Horowitz, Liberace and Presley all rolled into one." What some friends worry about is that in the easy flush of success Van might be tempted to keep on repeating himself in the showy, romantic repertory he handles so well, neglecting his powers to develop. Says Juilliard Dean Mark Schubart: "He needs to learn more Beethoven sonatas; he needs to work on Schubert, Schumann, Debussy and Ravel. This is no reflection on him; no artist that young knows 'em all." Says Sir Arthur Bliss: "If, like fine wine, he can mature slowly and somewhat secretly, he'll be a great artist. But if he's affected by the immense publicity he's gained, he'll be like many other prizewinners : he'll have a brief period of glory and be spoiled. I hope his friends will be wise enough to say, 'Now you mature.' "

Most of the people close to him agree with Critic Abram Chasins that, because his basic instincts are "those of a pristine musician," Van will survive the perils of his success. But U.S. music is unlikely ever to be the same again. "What he has given to it," says Pianist Eugene Istomin, "is glamour. He has reminded everybody that we are no longer a cowboy country musically."

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