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Title: Past his prime
Review: Van Cliburn was undeniably a unique artist, who made many excellent recordings in the late 50's - early 60's. He then suffered what appears to be a nervous breakdown and pretty much lost his capacity to make worthwhile music. This 1972 recording falls into the later category. For the Brahms look to Fleisher/Szell, Gilels/Reiner, Richter/Leinsdorf, Serkin/Szell, Anda/Klemperer or a handful of others depending on your taste. For the Rhapsody look to Rubinstein/Reiner, Wild/Horenstein or Katchen/Boult. All of these are head and shoulders above this recording by Cliburn. For a good example of Cliburn at his peak, try the disc containing Tchaikovsky No.1 and Rachmaninov No.2 with Kondrashin and Reiner on RCA Living Stereo.
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