Soviet Van Cliburn Winner to Display Virtuoso Talent in S.D.

SAN DIEGO —  To pianist Alexei Sultanov, equivocation is an unknown state of mind. When the 19-year-old Soviet won the gold medal in this year’s Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, he modestly stated, “I came here with one object only: to take top prize or nothing.”

The flashy, self-confident pianist from Tashkent (Uzbeck, U.S.S.R.) will perform a solo recital Tuesday at San Diego’s College Avenue Baptist Church as part of the current Soviet arts festival. Sultanov has just begun his staggering 200-concert schedule, a two-year itinerary of solo and orchestral engagements he garnered as the Cliburn gold medalist.

Sultanov’s hard-edged determination to study piano rather than either of the instruments his musical parents played can be summed up in a childhood anecdote.

“My mother plays the violin,” he explained, “and she tried to teach me violin when I was 3 years old. But after four lessons, I smashed the violin on the floor. Then my father tried to teach me cello, but after the second lesson he understood that his instrument was also in danger. Then they allowed me to start piano lessons.”

Last weekend, Sultanov was in Detroit, where he played Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto (one of the Van Cliburn Competition concertos) with the Detroit Symphony under guest conductor Raymond Harvey. Reached by phone at his hotel, Sultanov answered questions in confident English and in a particularly good mood.

“My father came to travel with me in America for two weeks,” Sultanov said. “In Detroit we went shopping a little, and we will have some time to look around the city.”

Because Sultanov must travel alone for most of his concert tour, his father’s presence was cause for the high spirits.

“He used to play cello in an orchestra and a string quartet, but now he teaches music in Moscow.”

But winning the Cliburn in mid-June and embarking on this tour has not been one long standing ovation. Sultanov regrets that he has not been able to perform a gala homecoming program in Moscow, where he has lived since he was 13.

“I’ve been able to spend very little time at home--less than a week--since the competition. There was no time for a recital in those few days, and it looks like it will be two years before I can play in the Soviet Union.”

Before the Cliburn, Sultanov had played concerts in West Germany and the Soviet Union. Since his American debut in June, he has noted little difference between the reactions of Soviet and American audiences.

“I think that people are the same everywhere, although now I am much more popular in America than I am in the Soviet Union because I have no concerts in the Soviet Union. American audiences are one of the most warm in my experience.”

Sultanov, who was the youngest of the 38 Van Cliburn competitors, had been carefully groomed for the Texas competition by the Soviet musical establishment. His teacher at the Moscow State Conservatory, L. N. Naumov, had also coached Vladimir Virado, the Russian pianist who won the 1973 Van Cliburn gold medal.

According to competition jurist Ralph Votapek, who won the first Van Cliburn gold medal, the five Russian pianists who sent audition tapes to the competition had been carefully hand-picked to represent the Soviet Union. Not surprisingly, four of these pianists were invited to compete in Fort Worth, and three Russians made the cut of the six finalists.

Sultanov is eager to record a pair of piano concertos with the London Symphony under Soviet emigre conductor Maxim Shostakovich (son of composer Dmitri Shostakovich). In an article in the September issue of Musical America magazine, Van Cliburn judge Shostakovich unabashedly declared his advocacy of Sultanov from the beginning.

“He’s a great musician--a real talent,” said Shostakovich. “I listened to three bars (of Sultanov’s initial videotaped audition) and was sure he must be the gold medalist.”

Not surprisingly, Sultanov and Shostakovich will record two grand, Romantic Russian works, Tchaikovsky’s Third Piano Concerto and Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto.

Sultanov’s San Diego program will include Haydn’s E-flat Major Sonata, Chopin’s Scherzo in B-flat Minor, Liszt’s “Mephisto” Waltz, and a pair of Russian works--Scriabin’s Fifth Sonata and Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata.

“I chose the Prokofiev because he is very popular in America, I think. Scriabin is not played here much, but I wanted to show people his wonderful, highly individual music.”

Tickets for Sultanov’s 8 p.m. recital at College Avenue Baptist Church are available through the San Diego Youth Symphony, the event’s co-sponsor.

According to youth symphony board president Mike Iverson, San Diego Mayor O’Connor has given his organization the responsibility to dole out about 1,100 seats in the church. He said the mayor wanted tickets to go first to piano teachers and their students, and secondly to children who were interested in music. The remaining tickets will then be available to the general public.