He Faced Hard Choices in Taping Competition : Television: In taping the Moscow competition for PBS, producer Robert Dalrymple missed out on an American vocalist who created a sensation.

Call it a hunch gone awry.

When Robert Dalrymple journeyed to Moscow in late June with a crew of 12 to videotape the International Tchaikovsky Competition for PBS, the producer opted to cover the piano and violin finals and to ignore the vocal and cello contests.

As luck would have it, a vocalist--29-year-old Deborah Voigt, formerly from Southern California--created a sensation at the ninth competition celebrating the life of composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, winning the gold medal for best female vocalist. She was only the second American to earn such honors; the first was Jane Marsh in 1966.

Despite shooting more than 130 hours of concert footage, Dalrymple & Co. have no record of Voigt’s triumph in their 90-minute special that airs tonight on PBS. (See accompanying review.)

In an interview at his spacious offices on the Sunset Strip, Dalrymple, 39, acknowledged that covering a competition of the stature of the Tchaikovsky, which runs over a month’s time and this year attracted more than 100 Americans, always involves an element of risk.

“We felt we could track six characters and tell their personal stories, and decided the piano and violin categories were of the most interest,” explained Dalrymple, whose credits also include programs about the 1982 and 1986 Tchaikovsky competitions and the 1985 Van Cliburn International.

The film follows the United States’ Kevin Kenner and Stephen Prutsman, Italy’s Enrico Pace, the Soviet Union’s Boris Berezovsky and Evgeny Bushkov and Japan’s Akaki Suwanai through each agonizing round to the concerto finals.

Inserting a segment on Voigt after the fact, Dalrymple said, would only have disrupted the story line. “It’s tough enough to get people to watch classical music programs,” he added.

Public fascination with musical competition dates to 1958, when Harvey Lavan Cliburn, a tall, gangly, 23-year-old Texan, stormed into Moscow, capturing not only the Tchaikovsky gold, but also the hearts of the Russian people. With extensive media coverage back home, Cliburn returned to a hero’s welcome.

Other competitions in ensuing years have assumed major significance, especially the Van Cliburn International, established in the pianist’s name in Ft. Worth, Tex., in 1962, and the Leeds (England) International, which spawned the career of pianist Murray Perahia.

But the Tchaikovsky still ranks No. 1, continuing to attract agents and autograph hounds, as well as television and radio producers anxious to cash in on its international appeal.

Covering such a competition differs vastly from filming opera, ballet and symphony concerts for television, according to John Goberman, who since 1976 has produced the “Live From Lincoln Center” broadcasts.

“With performance specials you have to get involved in the performance itself, although also not get in the way. And you have to know your stuff and be a musician and have judgment,” said Goberman, Lincoln Center’s director of media development. “With competitions, you have to be an observer and can do a good job if you have access (to performers and jurors).”

In filming the Tchaikovsky, Dalrymple employed Soviet personnel, including interpreters and drivers, but refrained from utilizing Soviet equipment, which he dubs “less than state-of-the art.”

The Dalrymple/KCET production cost about $600,000. It was underwritten in part with a $350,000 Nakamichi Foundation grant, has been licensed for viewing to the BBC in England for about $50,000, and to Germany’s ZDF television network for about $70,000, Dalrymple said.

Although his work was known to Soviet authorities--Dalrymple also produced the Billy Joel and Billy Crystal television specials in Moscow--the producer nevertheless had a tough time securing permission to film the Tchaikovsky, largely because of competition from the Japanese. Ultimately, he won the U.S. and European rights, while NHK of Japan, under separate agreement with the Soviets, secured film rights for Japan. (Additionally, for about $3.5 million, Pioneer Electronics Corp. was named the first official sponsor of the Tchaikovsky, entitled to present and promote the winners in Japan.)

Dalrymple’s films afford aspiring artists invaluable exposure. Tchaikovsky laureate Barry Douglas said that the 1986 production gained him global recognition.

“It helped my career enormously,” the pianist said on the phone from London. “But such a film has to be done in a special way. Robert (Dalrymple) is so talented; he and (director) Bill Fertik are always intrusive, but in a nice way.”

This year’s piano gold medalist, the 21-year-old Berezovsky, is now “wanted all over the world,” according to his wife, mathematician Lena Chernyak, and the TV program is expected to increase the demand.

Stephen Prutsman, 29, who in Dalrymple’s documentary is depicted traversing Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, still finds engagements hard to come by because he finished fourth. The Yucaipa, Calif.-born Prutsman, a student of Leon Fleisher in Baltimore, is banking on the television exposure to tip the scales.

Not all contestants relish their appearances being recorded for posterity.

New York pianist David Buechner, 30, shown angrily threatening to quit the 1986 Tchaikovsky after a less-than-satisfactory orchestral rehearsal, said that although Dalrymple’s earlier film has not harmed his career, “it certainly didn’t help it either.”

“Fortunately,” he added, “I have enough of a reputation in the States that people still hire me.”