Colin Eatock, composer
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When the World Stopped to Listen

6/7/2017

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Picture
I originally wrote this book review for the Classical Voice North America website.
 

In his new book, When the World Stopped to Listen: Van Cliburn’s Cold War Trumph and Its Aftermath, Stuart Isacoff brings both a pianist’s insights and a historian’s rigor to an event that shook the musical world – indeed, the world at large – almost six decades ago. It was in 1958, at the height of the Cold War, that a lanky young Texan went to Moscow and won the gold medal for piano at the first Tchaikovsky Competition.
 
Although Isacoff didn’t know Cliburn personally (at least, he makes no such claim), his presentation of the pianist is detailed and vivid. The portrait drawn here is not always flattering: for instance, Isacoff notes the overbearing influence of the pianist’s mother and first teacher, Rildia Bee O’Bryan Cliburn, his superstitious fascination with astrology, and his ill-placed faith in an amphetamine-dispensing quack, Max “Dr. Feelgood” Jacobson. Cliburn also is described as naïve, irresponsible, and plagued with performance anxieties. (Isacoff does not say much about Cliburn’s homosexuality, except to point out that the 1950s were not a time of tolerance.)



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The All-Stars “Bang on a Canada”

6/3/2017

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PictureThe spirit of Reich hovered in the hall.
I originally wrote this review for the Classical Voice North America website.
 
Way back in 1970, when high modernism ruled the earth, a young composer in New York named Steve Reich wrote “Some Optimistic Predictions About the Future of Music.” In this little manifesto, he predicted several trends, including the return of tonality and a strong rhythmic pulse in contemporary music.
 
I mention this in light of a concert on May 27 at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. Presented within the RCM’s 21C Music Festival, the program was called “Bang on a Canada,” featuring New York’s Bang on a Can All-Stars playing recent works by a dozen Canadian and American composers.



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    Eatock Daily

    I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

    When I first started blogging, Eatock Daily was a place to re-post the articles I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.

    But now I have stepped back from professional music journalism, and I'm spending more time composing.

    These days, my blog posts are infrequent, and are mostly concerned with my own music. However, I do still occasionally post comments on musical topics, including works I've discovered, enjoyed, and wish to share with others.


    – CE

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