Strings of Gold

U.S. players triumph in Moscow competition

Twelve years ago, a young cellist named Nathaniel Rosen, then 18, journeyed from California to Moscow to compete in the famous International Tchaikovsky Competition. Held every four years, it is one of the world's most demanding and prestigious tests of talent in violin, cello, piano and voice. Rosen, the youngest cello entrant, made it to the finals but did not place. The three-week series of eliminations left him exhausted. "I'd love to go back to the Soviet Union," he concluded, "but probably not as a competitor."

This year he changed his mind, and a fortunate thing too. At 30--now the oldest of the cello competitors--he returned to play, among other pieces, Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme, which he performed in 1966. This time he won a rousing ovation and a first-prize gold medal. In what can only be called the year of the strings for America, Elmar Oliveira, 28, of Binghamton, N.Y., shared a gold medal in the violin division with the Soviet Union's Ilya Grubert; Violinist Dylana Jenson, only 17, shared a second-place silver medal, and Daniel Heifetz shared fourth-place violin honors. It was the U.S.'s most impressive showing ever; its only other gold medals went to Pianist Van Cliburn in the first competition, held in 1958, and to Soprano Jane Marsh in 1966.

This year's event was held primarily in the Palace of Congresses, a huge modern hall inside the Kremlin, presided over by an enormous portrait of Tchaikovsky. It drew 250 musicians from 37 countries, and all sessions were sold out weeks in advance. Said Rosen: "One of the things that sustains you in the competition is the love of the Russian public for the music. There is no apathy, no sleepiness; everyone concentrates on the musician."

Soviet critics praised Rosen's "splendid technique and beautiful full sound." Principal cellist with the Pittsburgh Symphony under Andre Previn, Rosen was elated by his second-time-around victory. "Before, I was examining the style of others," he said. "This time, I was much more intense, concentrated." He began playing the cello at six when his father, an amateur violist, and his mother, a pianist, started their son practicing in hopes of gaming an addition to their family chamber group. At 13, he made his debut with a symphony orchestra in Redlands, Calif., and began studying with Cellist Gregor Piatigorsky.

A broad-ranging musician who has even played on rock records, Rosen won the Naumburg cello competition in New York last year. His new triumph was no surprise to his father, who accompanied his son to Moscow and predicted the outcome from the start.

Previn was not surprised either. Said he: "I kept telling him that he would win because he is the finest young cellist in the world."

Oliveira, a solo violinist whose U.S. recitals have earned him a reputation as a dramatic, virtuoso performer, was praised by Russian critics for the "wealth of timbres, imagination and artistry" in his work.

He began taking lessons at nine from his older brother, now a violinist with the Houston Symphony, and used a violin made by his father, a carpenter. He debuted with the Hartford Symphony at 14, and won a Naumburg prize two years before Rosen, in 1975. Although Oliveira feels that competitions are too powerful a force in establishing musicians' reputations, he was still happy: "Such a prize gives a performer a tremendous boost. It opens up more engagements with finer orchestras, better recitals throughout the world."

Indeed it does. Offers are pouring in for Oliveira to perform with symphonies across the U.S. He can now command $3,000--$1,000 more than his precompetition rate. As for Rosen, he may be able to support himself as a soloist. Says he: "It is much more difficult for a cellist to have a soloist career than it is for a pianist or a violinist. It would be a fantastic achievement if I could do even a small thing to advance the cause of cellists."

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