Wednesday, February 27, 2013

American classical pianist Van Cliburn dies at age 78

(Reuters) - American pianist Van Cliburn, who awed Russian audiences with his exquisite Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff concertos and won fame and fortune back home, died on Wednesday at the age of 78.

Cliburn passed away at his home in Fort Worth, Texas, after suffering from advanced bone cancer, his publicist Mary Lou Falcone told Reuters. Cliburn announced in August 2012 that he had been diagnosed with the disease.

The lanky, blue-eyed Texan, who began taking piano lessons at the age of 3 and later trained at New York's prestigious Juilliard School, burst onto the world stage at the height of the Cold War and was the surprise winner of the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958.

His performance at the finale led to an eight-minute standing ovation, and the Russian judges asked Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev for permission to give the top prize to the 23-year-old American.

Cliburn's triumph helped spur a brief thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations and made him an overnight sensation in the United States, where his name was known even among those who did not follow classical music.

'It was he that was the symbol of peace for the Cold War,' Falcone said. 'He was embraced by both Eisenhower and Khrushchev in the 1950s and the only musician to have a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan.'

Time magazine dubbed him 'The Texan Who Conquered Russia' in a cover story following his victory, and New York City gave the pianist a hero's welcome upon his return from Russia.

Taken on by the powerful impresario Sol Hurok, Cliburn was able to command high fees and practically had carte blanche in the recording studio.

His recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, which he had played in Moscow, became the first classical album to go platinum and was the best-selling classical album for more than a decade.

Fans adored him for his innocence and charm more than for his music-making. In Philadelphia, a shrieking crowd tore the door handles off his limousine. In Chicago, the Elvis Presley fan club changed its name to the Van Cliburn fan club.

'He was an international legend,' Falcone said. 'Personally, he was a giant and publicly he was a giant.'

But in 1978, Cliburn walked off the stage, professionally exhausted. He played occasionally in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including a performance in the White House for President Ronald Reagan and visiting Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.

TAUGHT PIANO BY HIS MOTHER

Critics said the publicity-fueled demand and the public's taste had kept him from growing beyond a relatively narrow collection of romantic pieces, such as his signature Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff concertos.

'Despite his fame, the Texas-sized pianist has been widely regarded among serious musicians as an immensely gifted but rather unreflective artist of unfulfilled and probably unfulfillable potential,' a New York Times critic wrote after Cliburn's retirement.

Born on July 12, 1934, in Shreveport, Louisiana, Harvey Lavan Cliburn Jr. was taught piano by his mother. He gave his first public recital at 4. By age 5, even though he could not read or write, he was completely literate in music.

He won several local and regional awards and in 1951 began studies at Juilliard under Rosina Lhevinne. She schooled him in the traditions of the great Russian romantic composers, setting the stage for Cliburn's victory in Moscow seven years later.

'My relationship with the Russians was personal, not political,' he said in a 1989 interview. He played in Moscow and St. Petersburg when he briefly returned to the concert stage years later.

Cliburn, a lifelong Baptist who did not smoke or drink, became a prominent and popular figure in the Fort Worth, Texas, area and was well known for his generosity, contributing vast sums to the Broadway Baptist Church and other causes.

He lived on what friends called 'Van Cliburn time.' He rose in the early evening, would dine at midnight and preside over after-dinner conversations at 4 a.m. Usually heading the dinner table was his mother, Rildia Bee, who lived with him until her death at 97.

In 1996, Cliburn was named in a palimony lawsuit by Thomas Zaremba, who claimed a portion of Cliburn's income and assets and accused Cliburn of possibly exposing him to the AIDS virus during a 17-year relationship. The lawsuit eventually was dismissed.

Cliburn also supported the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, a private and nonprofit-based enterprise that offers winners cash prizes, a Carnegie Hall debut and two years of touring arranged and promoted by the competition.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2003 and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in 2011.

Cliburn is survived by his long-standing friend, Thomas L. Smith.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey and Paul Simao; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Alden Bentley, Gary Hill)

Famed classical pianist Van Cliburn dies at age 78

(Reuters) - American pianist Van Cliburn, who awed Russian audiences with his exquisite Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff concertos and won fame and fortune back home, died on Wednesday at the age of 78.

Cliburn passed away at his home in Fort Worth, Texas, after suffering from bone cancer, his publicist Mary Lou Falcone told Reuters.

The lanky, blue-eyed Texan, who began taking piano lessons at the age of 3 and later trained at New York's prestigious Juilliard School, burst onto the world stage at the height of the Cold War and was the surprise winner of the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958.

His performance at the finale led to an eight-minute standing ovation and was so unexpected that the Russian judges reportedly had to ask Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev for permission to give the top prize to the 23-year-old American.

Cliburn's triumph helped spur a brief thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations and made him an overnight sensation in the United States, where his name was known even among those who did not follow classical music.

'It was he that was the symbol of peace for the Cold War,' Falcone said. 'He was embraced by both Eisenhower and Khrushchev in the 1950s and the only musician to have a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan.'

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey and Paul Simao; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Alden Bentley)

Famed classical pianist Van Cliburn dies in Texas at age 78

(Reuters) - American pianist Van Cliburn, who burst onto the world stage at the height of the Cold War, awing Russian audiences with his exquisite Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff concertos and winning fame and fortune back home, died on Wednesday. He was 78.

Cliburn died at his home in Fort Worth, Texas, after suffering from bone cancer, his publicist Mary Lou Falcone told Reuters.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Bowie is back to best on new album, critics say

LONDON (Reuters) - David Bowie's first album of new music in a decade sees the influential musician back to his best, critics said in reviews rushed out on Tuesday, two weeks before its release.

'The Next Day', which hits stores in Britain on March 11 and a day later in the United States, could even be the 'greatest comeback in rock'n'roll history', according to The Independent's Andy Gill.

As well as a series of glowing reviews, this week also saw the launch of the second single from the 14-track album called 'The Stars (Are out Tonight)', accompanied by a surreal video starring the Starman himself and Tilda Swinton as his wife.

In it the middle-aged couple's daily routine is upset by the arrival of a group of mysterious, androgynous celebrities next door who enter their dreams and reawaken old desires and fears.

'They burn you with their radiant smiles/Trap you with their beautiful eyes' read the lyrics on Bowie's official website.

As befits an 'event' album with so much hype surrounding it, several newspapers gave The Next Day a track-by-track analysis.

'David Bowie's The Next Day may be the greatest comeback album ever,' said Gill in his five-star assessment.

'It's certainly rare to hear a comeback effort that not only reflects an artist's own best work, but stands alongside it in terms of quality,' he added.

Neil McCormick of the Telegraph also gave the record top marks, calling it 'an ... emotionally charged, musically jagged, electric bolt through his own mythos and the mixed-up, celebrity-obsessed, war-torn world of the 21st century.'

BOWIE MANIA

Even in an age when veteran musical comebacks are a daily occurrence, the fascination with Bowie appears to be huge.

Music magazine NME is dedicating a six-page cover feature to the singer, while the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is staging a major exhibition looking at his music, art and groundbreaking fashion.

More than 26,000 tickets have already been sold to the show, which opens on March 23.

Alexis Petridis, writing in the Guardian, argued that, while containing references to Bowie's past work, it largely avoided becoming a sonic memoir of a stellar musical career.

And he said that the secrecy surrounding the making of the album, and genuine media surprise when it was announced on Bowie's 66th birthday last month, risked overshadowing the quality of the music itself.

'That doesn't seem a fair fate for an album that's thought-provoking, strange and filled with great songs,' he said. 'Listening to it makes you hope it's not a one-off, that his return continues apace.'

Songs singled out by critics included 'Valentine's Day', couched, according to Gill, 'in one of the album's most engaging pop arrangements', and 'Dancing Out In Space', described by Will Hodgkinson of The Times as a 'nightclub smash'.

'You Feel So Lonely You Could Die', the penultimate track, provides the climax which McCormick calls 'fantastic, a lush companion piece to Ziggy's Rock'n'roll Suicide that drips vitriol in place of compassion.'

Now that the album is complete, the question on many fans' lips is whether Bowie will return to the stage to perform live.

The singer himself has dodged the limelight altogether since the comeback, but guitarist Gerry Leonard told Rolling Stone magazine that he thought it was '50-50' that Bowie would tour.

The glam-rock star, born David Jones in south London in 1947, shot to fame with 'Space Oddity' in 1969, and later with his alter ego Ziggy Stardust, before establishing himself as a chart-topping force in the early 1980s.

His long absence from the music scene led to speculation he had retired, with British newspapers reporting as recently as October that he had disappeared from the limelight for good.

Bowie's last album of new material was 'Reality', released a decade ago, and he underwent emergency heart surgery while on tour in 2004. His last stage performance was as a guest at a charity concert in New York in 2006.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

U.S. ex-basketball player Rodman arrives in North Korea

SEOUL (Reuters) - Retired U.S. basketball player Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea to film a television documentary on Tuesday with representatives of the Harlem Globetrotters celebrity team, North Korean state television reported.

Rodman, now 51 years old, won five NBA championships in his prime, achieving a mix of fame and notoriety for his on- and off-court antics.

Thirty-year-old North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who has launched two long-range rockets and carried out a nuclear weapons test during just over a year in power, is reported to be an avid NBA fan and had pictures taken with players from the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers during his school days in Switzerland.

Rodman, who sports trademark tattoos and piercings, played for the Bulls. The trip to Pyongyang was organized by a New York-based television production company, VICE.

'I think most of guys are first time here so hopefully everything is OK and hopefully kids have a good time for the game,' Rodman, sporting a baseball cap and sunglasses, told North Korea's KCNA.

VICE, which has previously worked in North Korea, said the week-long trip would include running a basketball camp for North Korean children and engaging in community-based games.

The company hinted that Kim may attend one of its events, but that could not be independently verified.

Its North Korean footage with Rodman will be distributed on HBO in April.

U.S. citizens do not require clearance to visit North Korea, and Google Inc. Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt visited in January.

The United States is leading a drive in the United Nations to have stricter sanctions imposed on North Korea following its nuclear test two weeks ago.

The third member of the Kim family to rule North Korea, an isolated and impoverished state that has about 200,000 political prisoners in labor camps and where a third of children are malnourished, has a penchant for American culture.

On coming to office, he staged a spectacular featuring a host of Disney characters. He has also been pictured at theme parks, in sharp contrast with his father's austere appearances.

There has been a variety of attempts at sports diplomacy with North Korea, ranging from wrestling to judo and basketball.

None appears to have fared any better than the regular kind of diplomacy in preventing North Korea from pushing towards the acquisition of nuclear weapons.

As Rodman and his colleagues arrived, North Korean state news agency KCNA issued yet another challenge to the United States, saying it had no choice but to respond to what it called U.S. 'provocations' over sanctions with 'military muscle'.

(Editing by Ken Wills and Robert Birsel)

Monday, February 25, 2013

Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop dies at 96

(Reuters) - Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, a pediatric surgeon known for his anti-smoking campaigns and efforts to improve diet and nutrition, died at his home in Hanover, New Hampshire on Monday. He was 96 years old.

Koop served as Surgeon General from November 1981 until October 1989, taking stern and sometimes controversial stands on abortion, AIDS, fatty foods, drugs and cigarettes.

His death was announced by Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine, where he founded the C. Everett Koop Institute.

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Bela Tarr swaps film making for running unique school

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Revered Hungarian director Bela Tarr's famously uncompromising approach to cinema will now be passed to future generations as he begins a new course for budding filmmakers in Sarajevo.

The 57-year-old retired from directing after the release in 2011 of 'The Turin Horse', a bleak, black-and-white portrayal of a peasant and his daughter abandoned by man and God in their remote, windswept cottage.

Its long takes and sparse dialogue and narrative were trademarks of Tarr, who won over critics around the world and is perhaps most famous for his seven-hour epic 'Satantango' based on a novel by compatriot Laszlo Krasznahorkai.

It will come as little surprise to hear Tarr speak not of commercial success in cinema, but artistic integrity at a time when independent filmmakers are struggling to raise money to make movies that have limited box office potential.

'Film is different - you cannot teach, you can do only one thing which is to develop young filmmakers -- give them freedom, tell them they can be brave, they can be themselves, do what they really want,' Tarr said in an interview.

Last week classes began at his newly launched Film Factory at the Sarajevo University School for Science and Technology, offering a three-year programme which Tarr and his associates said would adopt a fresh approach to filmmaking.

'It started when I decided not to make any more movies,' Tarr said of his idea to launch an international PhD-level film programme for mature directors.

'I had the feeling this was the next step in my life because I want to share what I know, and I want to protect young filmmakers, give them the protection to be free,' he told Reuters in his offices in the Bosnian capital.

ART BACK INTO FILM

Accommodated in a building located in the old part of Sarajevo, his Film Factory is now home to 17 students who have come from as far as Japan and Mexico to explore the secrets of filmmaking.

'It's a unique attempt to really work artistically in film, and to bring film to the level of art again,' said Fred Kelemen, a German cinematographer and director who runs a camera workshop at the school.

'I think it's very important because it's something that many film schools around the world do not do any more,' he added before mentoring students in capturing light against a dark backdrop on camera.

Kelemen has worked with Tarr on several films, and has been branded by critics as the 'maestro of black and white silence'.

The programme includes a theoretical section based on analyzing films as well as practical workshops which will be run by independent cinema stars including Aki Kaurismaki, Gus Van Sant, Jim Jarmusch and Tilda Swinton.

Students are expected to produce four films over the first two years and a feature in the final year.

'It looks like a menu,' Tarr said of his programme. 'In the end you have to cook your own food. The third part, when they are making their own movies, is where the real cooking is done, and that is my responsibility.'

Most students said they applied for the school because of its unconventional approach to film and its roster of prominent figures from the film industry.

'After 110 years of cinema we are at the point where everything is undone,' said Keja Ho Kramer from France, who has worked in the film business for the past 12 years.

'So to have an opportunity to rethink where the future is with all these amazing people is what interests me most.'

Tarr is confident the course will achieve its goal of promoting freedom of art and expression, and produce some 'good, strong movies.

'We are here, we have cameras, we have lights, we have fantasy, they have time, they are young, full of energy, full of hope - I do not see a problem. We just have to work, work, work, work.'

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Paul Casciato)