THE KIRKUS REVIEW IS RIGHT ON. THIS BOOK IS A DISGRACE. THE AUTHOR HAD A CHANCE TO EXAMINE ONE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC'S MOST POPULAR PIANISTS AND BLEW IT. ALL WE GET IS AND UNENDING STREAM OF REVIEWS AND COMPLIMENTS. THERE IS NOTHING HERE THAT EXPLAINS HIS LONG ABSENCE FROM THE CONCERT STAGE OR ANYTHING THAT HAS NOT BEEN WRITTEN BEFORE IN THE TYPICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE FLUFF PIECES. THE SELECTION OF PICTURES IS NOT EVEN THAT GOOD.SAVE YOUR MONEY!

An excellent book in many respects - but not perfect. Mr. Reich gives many interesting little anecdotes from Mr. Cliburn's life, and frequently quotes friends of the pianists, and even Mr. Cliburn himself. In fact, there are so many quotes from Mr. Cliburn that a friend of mine stated that it could practically be an autobiography. I wish Mr. Cliburn WOULD write an autobiography, but just from what I know of him that seems unlikely.

At any rate, the book starts off with a rather too detailed geneology, tracing Mr. Cliburn's roots back to somewhere in England, and detailing the career of his great uncle on his mother's side or something like that. But I didn't want to read about his great-uncle on his mother's side - I wanted to read about Mr. Cliburn.

Of course, there is plenty about him - quite enough! But there are many unnecessary details - like the names of his judges, people who should have been judges, critics, names of friends of his friends, names of cars his friends drove, etc, etc...

Mr. Reich appears to hold the somewhat different opinion that Mr. Cliburn is the epidomy of perfection, and any competition that he entered in which he did not come in first (and those were extremely few!) is decidedly pooh-poohed. Although I think Mr. Cliburn is extremely excellent, myself, (he is my favorite pianist), I would not go so far as to claim he is perfection. (He IS close, though. :) )

But the book is certainly far from bad - I mentioned the anecdotes, and for the extreme Cliburnite much of the extra information can be interesting, like the description of the house he currently lives in (it seems to "go on and on," according to Reich, which is certainly possible. Evidently there is room for six Christmas trees in the family room.), and the fact that he leaves up his Christmas decorations for most of the year, and that he calls himself one of the most sentimental people to ever live. Which is likely - he left up the decorations for his mother's 80th birthday party for, actually, years after it was over.

We get to follow him all the way from his early childhood through his years at Julliard (where we discover that he is partial to caviar.) and to his decision to go to Moscow, and to Kruschev's (sp?) liking for him (which Reich thinks had much to do with Communism's downfall much later.{?}), all the way through his popularity to his long intermission, and even to his return to the stage. And the whole thing, the whole way, is jam-packed with information. Some necessary, some merely slightly interesting, some quite monotonous, and some definitely unnecessary. But I enjoyed the book immensely, especially since I received it when I was sick in bed and had nothing to do but read, anyway.

I would recommend it for any Cliburn fan - and really, the names of the neighbors down the street and the make of his friends' cars CAN be interesting.

I enjoyed Howard Reich's biography of Van Cliburn tremendously and give it "4 stars." Only the pianist's own autobiography could top it. I found Reich's book to be thoroughly researched and rich in detail. Personally, I appreciated reading about Cliburn's family's history. Van is fiercely Texan and no story about him would be complete without discussing his deep Texas roots.

As a lifelong Cliburn devotee, I've read most of what's printed about Mr. Cliburn. Of course, much of the generally known, factual-type statistics can't help but be repeated, but I found a lot of information in Reich's book not found elsewhere.

I especially love the many anecdotes in this book, as they illustrate so warmly and so well Van's "small town" Texas childhood (Kilgore) as contrasted with his "artist's life" on the world stage.

Two examples: One of Cliburn's closest childhood friends, Lottie Guttry, describes sitting in a Kilgore Baptist church with Van's family one Sunday. She recalls how she and Van watched as an elderly man sneezed some ill-fitting dentures straight out of his mouth...and directly in front of where Van and she stood! She says Van's sense of humor took over and, no matter how hard he tried, he could not stop laughing. Van's parents were NOT amused, however, and Van recalls each parent taking "a piece of his shoulder" and pinching it for all it was worth. He says, tongue-in-cheek, that his parents were "great pinchers."

Van personally tells the story of a disastrous concert scenario where the damper pedals literally dropped off a piano as he began playing the Schumann Concerto. He says he was "just this little kid" in the middle of an on-stage "TRAIN WRECK." The piano tuner/repairman was summoned but had "left the building" - and a very young Van Cliburn was left to (literally) pick up the pieces. Van recounts how the Prussian conductor announced "the obvious" to the audience ("Laties and gentlemen...ze pedals have DROPPED OFF!") before erupting off-stage. Fortunately, one of the orchestra members worked as a piano tuner in his spare time and quickly repaired the pedals - and Cliburn went on to play to standing ovations.

I think Reich has done an excellent job in locating and interviewing the people who knew Cliburn best - his friends and neighbors from Shreveport, from Kilgore, and his Juilliard classmates. Even when Van was only 19 or so, his peers at Juilliard say they recognized that his genius was something truly special and profound. Reich also describes the rivalries that surfaced among the top piano students at Juilliard during that time. Also Rosina Lhevinne's strong belief in Van, that she never considered any other student but Van to enter the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow - that she firmly believed that he was the only American capable of winning the Gold.

Of course, no one will EVER tell the life story of Van Cliburn better than the artist himself. I do hope he writes his memoirs someday. But as wonderful a gift as that would be to his fans all over the world, I doubt Van will actually do so. From what I've read and sense, Mr. Cliburn is a very private person, and a very humble one. I think he is more comfortable having others tell his life story than telling it himself. Fred Astaire had this same type humility. He viewed dancing as "his job." Cliburn takes an almost evangelical approach in sharing his musical gifts. His mother, Rildia Bee taught him "to be thankful..grateful...not proud." Indeed, Van has often been quoted as saying he feels he is a "servant" of music, that he wishes to share with others whatever musical gifts God has bestowed upon him. That sort of humility is very rare in the artistic world.

I have been an admirer of Mr. Cliburn's all my life and I try to catch his concerts whenever I can. A couple of years ago, I drove to Nashville to watch Maestro Cliburn open the 52nd season there. I purchased a front row ticket for the occasion. When Mr. Cliburn learned that my traveling companion and I had driven several hours from out-of-state to see him play in concert, he said, "You mean you drove ALL that way just to see ME!" He could not have been kinder or more gracious. Shortly after our arrival at our hotel, my friend and I chanced upon Mr. Cliburn while walking through the hotel lobby and, although I think of myself as being fairly sophisticated, I did gasp: "Mr. Cliburn, it's YOU!" And, not missing a beat, Maestro Cliburn leaped to his feet, shook a long index finger at me and playfully shot back, "Yes, it's ME, it's ME!" We all laughed and, for the next 20 minutes or so, my friend and I had the most delightful conversation with one of the music world's most incredible legends. I will never forget it as long as I live - the three of us standing there chatting in a hotel lobby. I was visibly trembling when Mr. Cliburn turned to speak to me - and he took my hand into both of his. His kindness, his compassion go without saying. In Reich's book, he describes his own sense of awe and wonder at meeting his own idols. Knowing he understood, I let my words and emotions tumble forth. He is a wonderful, patient and understanding listener. I told him the joy his music had brought me over the years, how his early recordings introduced me to piano repertoire and inspired me to take piano lessons myself. I told him what an "awful" pianist I was - and he laughed with me about that! I found him totally charming, extremely warm and down-to-earth (very "Texan"). And when I concluded by telling Mr. Cliburn how his poetic, heartfelt interpretations touched my heart more than any other pianist's, he gave me a big hug right there in the lobby and told me how much my words meant to him! I was very moved by his humility, genuineness, and graciousness. Mr. Cliburn impressed me as being very much at peace with himself and with his place in the world.

At the conclusion of a recent interview, Cliburn stated that he feels somewhat out of synch in today's modern world, that he best "belongs to the nineteenth century." The following image is forever seared in my memory... When it came time to say our goodbyes to Mr. Cliburn, my friend said her goodbyes first, then turned and began to walk away. And there I was, standing with the Maestro, just the two of us. I thanked Mr. Cliburn for his generosity and kindness, for indulging my friend and me with his time and company, and told him that I looked forward to watching him in concert the following evening. He stood there, quietly smiling, then brought his hand up over his heart, gave a little bow of his head and softly said, "Thank you, Madame." I will NEVER forget that moment as long as I live (very "nineteenth century"). But that wasn't the end of it. The following evening, Mr. Cliburn generously played my two encore requests. As he walked off-stage that evening, he slowly raised his arm toward me acknowledging to the audience that the last encore had been 'for me.' I can think of no more touching or beautiful a gift from an artist to his fan than that! Mr. Reich's book is a warm, and honest tribute to a phenomenally gifted, caring and unique artist.