In recounting the story of the first time he met famed pianist Vladimir Horowitz, columnist William F. Buckley described him as being “the most celebrated musician alive.”In the mid-1980s, during the Cold War, this may well have been the case. Horowitz, who was born in Kiev in 1903 and fled the Soviet Union at age 22, was about to make a triumphant return to Moscow to play a concert. It made headlines all around the world, and afterward Ronald Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Thinking of that description of Horowitz made me wonder what constitutes being a celebrated musician today. Could there be a “most celebrated” now?
Back in the last century there were many contenders for such a title.One thinks of famed conductor Arturo Toscanini in the 1920s and 30s (and with whom Horowitz played several times); or perhaps cellist Pablo Casals, at least when he was performing at the White House, which he did first for Theodore Roosevelt and then, decades later, for John Kennedy.
Leonard Bernstein probably warranted the label at some point from the middle of the century into the 1970s. These were the years of his famous affiliation with the New York Philharmonic—and especially when he was on CBS television each week hosting his famed Young People’s Concerts. At one point you could make a good case for famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti being the most celebrated. He was on the Muppet Show for crying out loud. Then for a while it could have been Yo Yo Ma.Wynton Marsalis, perhaps?He was on Sesame Street.
But maybe it no longer makes sense to think in those terms. Music is very broad, as is art in general, and few of even the most accomplished artists can make an airtight case being the “most celebrated.”Our culture has become so specialized and so differentiated that I suspect it depends largely on the circles in which you run as to your assessment of who the most celebrated would be. You will have noticed, for example, that we’ve not even mentioned Taylor Swift.
Quality can often fly under the radar of contemporary culture as spectacle and splash are a lot easier to see.That having been said, spectacle doesn’t always mean lack of quality.Horowitz’s concert in Moscow was no doubt a spectacle, but his playing was flawless.But glitz and celebrity can easily be mistaken for substantive art. It takes practiced discernment to differentiate them.
