ABSTRACT
American pianist, born Harvey Lavan Cliburn, Jr., in Shreveport, Louisiana. He studied at the Juilliard School, made a debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra at age 13, and played with the New York Philharmonic at 24. He gained sudden world attention in 1958 by winning the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow. Cliburn’s recording of the Tchaikovsky First Concerto was the first classical LP to sell a million copies (Victor LSC 2252; 1958); indeed, sales had reached 2.5 million by the end of the 1960s. Cliburn made other important recordings, all for Victor, including the Liszt concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Rachmaninoff Second Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
