On the advice of my piano teacher, I went to see a pianist named Ralph Votapek play at a local community college last Saturday. He played Brahms first P.C. and it was wonderful. The things he did to that piano! Apparently he won the first Van Cliburn competition. He was a gold medalist anyway. When was the first Van Cliburn competition? Anyway, the orchestra began with a Barber piece (overture to School for Scandal) and Hanson's 2nd?? symphony. I was surprised that I liked both of these 20th century pieces. I especially enjoyed the Howard Hanson.

The conductor walked out and almost immediately pointed to the percussion section. A tremendous drum roll began and out comes the national anthem! Everyone stood and everyone sang... very well I thought. That was a really nice twist to this concert. Plus, the conductor talked to the audience once or twice. That was cool too.

1962.

Mr. Votapek is a gold medalist alright. Not all medalists, however, are good. Example: Andre-Michel Schub, the gold medalist of 1981, is IMHO a Cliburn competition mistake or rather, misjudgement.