When the World Stopped to Listen Quotes

“It was the kind of moment on which the wheels of history turn.”
― Stuart Isacoff, When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn's Cold War Triumph, and Its Aftermath

“The Soviet performers felt that every note had to be strictly controlled. They had excellent training, but the result lacked freshness and poetry.” That word, “freedom,” was secretly on the lips of many. In that sense, Van’s message became unintentionally political.”
― Stuart Isacoff, When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn's Cold War Triumph, and Its Aftermath

“The Moscow audience had of course heard it many times before, but Van’s interpretation was extraordinary. The work’s thundering octaves and delicate filigree were perfectly rendered. Musical lines soared and swooped and darted swiftly to and fro, unfolding a narrative that sounded both noble and ardent, majestic fanfares alternating with lovelorn airs. From the concerto’s opening piano chords, which pealed like colossal church bells, to its dark bass rumblings and songful melodies, every tone was imbued with an inner glow, with long phrases concluding in an emphatic, edgy pounce. The effect was simply breathtaking.”
― Stuart Isacoff, When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn's Cold War Triumph, and Its Aftermath

“The work had its own history of struggle. Originally intended as a showpiece for pianist Nikolai Rubinstein, it was dismissed by that renowned pianist as “worthless, absolutely unplayable.” His critical attack was stinging. “An outsider, dropping into the room,” claimed Tchaikovsky, “would have thought me a madman, without talent, ignorant, a worthless writer who had come to annoy a famous musician with his rubbish.” After Rubinstein bowed out, the music was premiered instead in Boston by Hans von Bülow.”
― Stuart Isacoff, When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn's Cold War Triumph, and Its Aftermath

“To the young among his admirers, he was the fresh face of an emerging, better world; to the old, a balm for the pain of lost youth and the bitterness of mortality—a bright spot in a dreary world still pulling itself up out of the gray muck of war.”
― Stuart Isacoff, When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn's Cold War Triumph, and Its Aftermath

“Though his rivals at the competition were well trained, there was something different about Van’s art. For many in the audience it represented the face of freedom. Performing under the auspices of a repressive regime and before an intimidating jury of some of the world’s greatest musicians, he seemed to answer to no authority other than the shifting tides of his own soul. The mere act of hearing him became liberating. When”
― Stuart Isacoff, When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn's Cold War Triumph, and Its Aftermath

“Those admirers created so strong a ballast against possible Kremlin tampering with the jury vote that it was said years later by critic Tamara Grum-Grzhimailo that the seeds of perestroika were first planted in this moment,”
― Stuart Isacoff, When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn's Cold War Triumph, and Its Aftermath