Remembering World-Renowned Classical Pianist Van Cliburn

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Tomorrow in this hour, we'll talk with Ron Elving about the looming automatic budget cuts. What questions do you have about the sequester? We'd especially like to hear from those of you who maybe affected. You can email questions to us now: talk@npr.org.

Now, a few moments to remember the renowned American pianist Van Cliburn, who died this morning in Forth Worth at the age of 78. Cliburn electrified the world in 1958, when at the age of 23, he won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. He returned home to ticker-tape parade in New York City.

You'll hear more about his life and death later today on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, but we want to take some time now to remember his talent. Van Cliburn played two pieces at that 1958 competition, including Tchaikovsky's "Concerto No. 1." We'll play the end of the third movement, played here with RCA Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall under the direction of Kiril Kondrashin.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC, "PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1")

CONAN: The late Van Cliburn with the RCA Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Kiril Kondrashin. More on his life later today on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. This is TALK OF THE NATION, from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.