- published: 04 May 2013
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A pianist (/ˈpiːənᵻst/ PEE-ə-nist, /ˈpjænᵻst/ PYAN-ist) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Most forms of Western music can make use of the piano. Consequently, pianists have a wide variety of repertoire and styles to choose from, including traditionally classical music, jazz, blues and all sorts of popular music, including rock music. Most pianists can, to a certain extent, play other keyboard-related instruments such as the synthesizer, harpsichord, celesta and the organ.
Modern classical pianists dedicate their careers to performing, recording, teaching, researching as well as learning new works/expanding their repertoire. They generally do not write or transcribe music as pianists did in the 19th century. Some classical pianists might specialize in accompaniment and chamber music while others (relatively few) will perform as full-time piano soloists.
Mozart could be considered the first "concert pianist" as he performed widely on the piano. Composers Beethoven and Clementi from the classical era were also famed for their playing, as were, from the romantic era, Liszt, Brahms, Chopin, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff. From that era, leading performers less known as composers were Clara Schumann and Hans von Bûlow. However, as we do not have modern audio recordings of most of these pianists, we rely mainly on written commentary to give us an account of their technique and style.
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Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn, Jr., (/ˈklaɪbɜːrn/; July 12, 1934 – February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who achieved worldwide recognition in 1958, at the age of 23, when he won the first quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow at the height of the Cold War.
His mother, an accomplished pianist and piano teacher discovered him playing at age three and mimicking one of her students. She arranged for him to start taking lessons. He developed a rich, round tone and a singing voice-like phrasing, having been taught from the start to sing each piece.
Van Cliburn toured domestically and overseas. He played for royalty, heads of state, and every U.S. president from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama.
Cliburn was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, the son of Rildia Bee (née O'Bryan) and Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Sr. At age three, he began taking piano lessons from his mother, who had studied under Arthur Friedheim, a pupil of Franz Liszt. When Cliburn was six, his father, who worked in the oil industry, moved the family to Kilgore, Texas near Longview.