The Art of Piano - Great Pianists of 20th Century
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Movie Reviews of The Art of Piano - Great Pianists of 20th Century
Movie Review: 20th Century Virtuosity at a Glance
Summary: 4 Stars
The thing I like most about this DVD is the seldom seen footage of Cortot, Hoffman et al. The two minuses are the sometimes out of sync video/audio (especially during Hoffman's performance of Rach's c minor prelude) and the interruptions of the performances by editorial dialogue. Also, no footage of Rachmaninoff, why?!
I enjoyed it very much in spite of the flaws. I strongly recommend it.
Movie Review: This is a gem
Summary: 5 Stars
The Art of Piano - Great Pianists of the 20th Century provides an opportunity to hear, see, and experience the music of giants who are no longer available to be seen. Each artist is featured with comments about thier art and their life. For the pianist like me who plays at home alone, this is a real gift. I love it!. Alfreda WeissMovie Review: Everybody must carefully watch this DVD.
Summary: 5 Stars
Include great interpretations of great pianist, comment full of knowledge, it is a stimulating video for piano students and parents. Everybody must carefully watch this DVD.Movie Review: Where were the others?
Summary: 4 Stars
I was delighted on switching on my DVD player with the "Great Pianists of 20th Century". The sound was reproduced beautifully, and I thought that the image quality excellent, considering the age of some of the excerpts. Perhaps one of my main reasons for buying the DVD was to actually SEE Joseph Hofmann, as I had heard him play so many times on audio cassette, and anyway, he's always been my favourite pianist.
So here I was rewarded with a performance of Rachmaninoff's C# minor Prelude, but no signs of any Chopin anywhere. Talking of whom, it was a big disappointment to have Sergei's picture only with him playing a section of the D minor concerto. Surely to God there must be some footage of perhaps the greatest pianist of them all?
How about Clifford Curzon, a superb pianist I heard at many prewar concerts in London. And what a mistake not to even mention the great Russian Leff Pouishnoff, who regularly filled the Albert Hall, and the Queen's Hall in London.
I suppose Kissin and Baremboim are just too new really for this feature, but at least they spoke to camera making interesting comments. Vladimir Ashkenazy wasn't shown or referred to either. I remember hearing him at the R.F.H. where he had just played the Rach 3 and Brahms 2 - what a task. (and he'd arrived in a banger Morris Minor, which couldn't have been good for his nerves!
But I'm nit-picking, as the DVD was really a splendid achievement which I shall treasure.
Movie Review: Don't miss this
Summary: 5 Stars
The Art of Piano was released by NVC ARTS in 2000 in multilanguage (English and France) format, along with subtitles in English, French, Spanish, and Japanese. This documentary extends previous films in this series, The Art of Singing, The Art of Violin and The Art of Conducting, and shows us some of the great pianists of the 20th century, from Francis Plante to Claudio Arrau, with comments from contemporary conductors and musicians (Daniel Barenboim, Colin Davis, Evgeny Kissin, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Piotr Anderszewski, Tam?s V?s?ry, etc.) Each one offers his own unique input about the piece and the pianist, letting us get deeper into the mind and soul of the performance.
When I first heard about this DVD, I immediately bought it for my daughter. She takes piano lessons and her teacher highly recommended this film. I put the disk into the player, turned the TV on and immersed myself in the fantastic sounds of music. The incredible playing of Gy?rgy Cziffra made me take a deep breath; it seemed impossible that a human being could move his fingers so fast. The imperturbable Vladimir Horowitz with his flat fingers just surprised not only his audience but himself with an earth-shattering, virtuoso performance of his own variations on a theme from Bizet's Carmen.
As a plus, this film focuses not only on the performance, but also on the biographies of the performers, letting us have a rare glimpse into their lives. It talks about the "great fascinators"; about two of the biggest personalities in the world of legendary pianists; about masters of classical sound and detachment; about the Soviet giants, and about the two great recluses-Gould and Michelangeli.
While watching this film, I found Glenn Gould particularly interesting. Often portrayed as an eccentric, he is actually a highly civilized pianist, a thinker and a fantasist. When he performed his own arrangement on Ravel's "La Valse Toronto," it was as if the music wanted to absorb some strange new life. In the recording of Gould playing Bach's "Partita No. 2," it seems that he is becoming the composer, approaching the score in his own radical way, as if to take it over and seize its soul.
Of course, all of the other pianists were amazing as well; however, these three stand out in my mind the most.
Although this film focuses on pianists, a few words need to be said about the music and composers. The selection of music covers a wide variety of different styles of classical music, including pieces by Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Bizet, Liszt, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Bach, and Tchaikovsky. The periods range from baroque to romantic to impressionist, each unique and beautiful in its own way.
Despite its great successes, this DVD did lack a few important features. For example, there could have been more commentary on the influence of the various time periods on the style of performance of each of the individual pianists. To better serve as an educational tool, the commentaries could have also included comparisons of the musical time periods. Also, the different styles of the composers whose works were being performed should have been mentioned, and how that may have affected the playing of each piece. I would have also liked the DVD to include pianists such as Vladimir Ashkenazy and Evgeny Kissin among the performers (Kissin does participate in the commentary, but he is such an incredible pianist that his contributions cannot be overlooked).
Unfortunately, I understand that it is impossible to fit in one volume all of the great pianists of the 20th century, so some critics will undoubtedly find this release incomplete. However, those who love piano must have this DVD.