MUSIC

Van Cliburn, who dazzled Muscovites by winning the gold medal at the 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition, will perform at the White House for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the pianist’s first public performance in nearly a decade. The performance will be at the Dec. 8 state dinner for Gorbachev given by President Reagan, Cliburn said this week from his Fort Worth, Tex., home. The 53-year-old Cliburn has neither recorded nor performed in public since 1978.