Another Van Cliburn piano competition is in the books, and John von Rhein gathers his impressions: “Among this year’s medalists, there was general agreement about who deserved the gold. Bespectacled and skinny, Russia’s Alexander Kobrin, 25, looks like a nerdy bookworm in need of a “Queer Eye” makeover. But he capped off his successes earlier in the finals with a Rachmaninoff “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” that was as thrilling as only a native son with superior pianistic chops can make it. Unlike some of his peers, he didn’t have to emote at the keyboard, because the emotion was invested in the music.”