Customer Reviews

The Art of Piano - Great Pianists of 20th Century

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having owned the videotape of this program I was pleased to get the new DVD version. It has additions to the tape. For one thing, although conducted primarily in English, there are English subtitles for those bits that are conducted in languages other than English. And there are also Japanese, Spanish and French subtitles for those who wish them. Some of the film footage is simply magnificent and extremely rare. For instance, one sees the elderly Francis Plante playing brilliantly; born in 1839, he had actually heard Chopin play! There is some tendency to cut away from music footage in order to continue the voice-over narration, and that is understandable, but it is also occasionally frustrating. Some have complained that there are only two female pianists represented - a long and impressive bit with Dame Myra Hess, and an uncredited bit underneath the credits with Annie Fischer - but then there are plenty of other male pianists who could have been included, too. The makers of the film only had two hours with which to work, so one can understand the omissions. There is a minimum of fawning, a fair amount of substantive information - both plusses. For those of us who are fascinated by both piano technique and ever-changing pianistic styles this DVD is indispensable. It was wonderful to see lengthy bits featuring, among others, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Josef Hofmann, Claudio Arrau, Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter, Arturo Benedetto Michelangeli, György Cziffra, Alfred Cortot, Arthur Rubinstein and to have interviews with current musicians like Sir Colin Davis, Stephen Kovacevich, Daniel Barenboim, Piotr Anderszewski, Tamás Vasáry, and Gary Graffman.

Recommended.

Scott Morrison

Indispensable of course because there is so little footage available of the great pianists. But the producer/editor seems to think that we like seeing performances of pieces faded out after a few bars, so he has plenty of film time for spoken thoughts from others. Unfortunately, since the commentaries are mostly a monumental waste of time (in the genre "He played incredibly well..." "He was a great virtuoso" - I mean "Duh"), the failure to allow the pianists to play to the end of the pieces is inexcusable and infuriating.

Good news is that Decca has just released a DVD also of the great pianists; I don't have it but I'm hoping they didn't wreck it with vacuous verbiage.

"The Art of Piano" is a brilliant, fascinating look at over one hundred years (from Plante to Richter) of pianism, with rare footage of some of history's greatest pianists performing live or discussing their art. For me, the most compelling footage was that of Cortot, Backhaus and Arrau, but nearly every second of this film is filled with compelling performances. Each pianist featured in "The Art of Piano" is a great artist, with a unique style and interpretation of music, but there is one drawback for me: this film is incomplete. Where are Schnabel, Gieseking, Serkin, Kempff, Katchen, Lhevinne, Cliburn and countless other great 20th century pianists? This film a treasure for all music lovers, but it is too exclusive for me to give it five stars. Hopefully there will be sequel that covers all those left out in part one.

This is a great DVD with some of the most amazing footage I have ever seen. First, there is video of Josef Hofmann playing Rachmaninoff's prelude op.3 no.2 in it's entirety. Then there's the stunning Cziffra playing Liszt's Grand Gallope Chromatique faster than I thought possible. Also Richter plays Chopin's etude Op10 No12 in like 1 minute 50 seconds.

No complaints about any of the content in this documentary. My only complaint is that EVERY piece of footage is completely wrecked(on the DVD, at least) by the fact that the video and audio are almost 1 second out of sync. Most people wouldn't notice. But it is very noticable to a pianist and it is annoying, almost to the point where I feel like going out and buying the VHS edition.

Other than that, a marvelous video.
Also If you are a big classical music fan, pick up the ART of VIOLIN. Another amazing video.

This video is a compilation of rare footage of some of the 20th century's finest pianists in performance. The performance excerpts are wondrous, while the narration is skilled and knowledgeable. The musicians who are interviewed display a finely-tuned appreciation of the featured pianists. One or two tiny objections: too many pianists are omitted (understandable, perhaps, in a two-hour video), and some of the performance excerpts are too brief. Despite those peccadilloes, the tape is a treasure that anyone who loves the piano repertoire will revere. Now how about a second (and maybe third and fourth?) volume to give Ferruccio Busoni, Rudolf Serkin, and dozens of other virtuosi, their well-merited place in the sun?

It's hard to fault a documentary that shows rarely-seen footage of the likes of Gilels, Arrau, Richter and Rubenstein, not to mention Paderewski, Fischer and Cziffra. But this video falls short of what it could have been, or should have been. The high-brow-sounding British announcer is grating, and just adds fuel to the mythical fire that classical is pompous music for old stuffed shirts. (Also, I have to wonder if the European version of this video features an American narrator with an uppercrust Boston accent. :-) But more important, the video is too short, and spends far too little time on each artist. We get a brief excerpt or two of them playing, often with a fade-down after a few bars followed by the grating narrator or an interviewee telling us what we are supposed to be hearing, but can't because they faded down to tell us. I get the feeling a lot of the film excerpts were used because they were the first they found, because they're not representative. Only the Horowitz and Gould segments reveal how this documentary could have been more insightful. Also, Schnabel is completely omitted! Not a word is said about him--incredible. Arrau gets about five minutes, with Daniel Barenboim telling us he was "a complex personality" but nothing more explaining the statement, followed by Arrau himself talking about body posture that out of context makes no sense, followed by a performance of the Brahms 2nd Concerto, hardly an Arrau specialty and not representative of his sound. At least the next clip, of his Beethoven Op. 111, makes up for it.

Nothing about Horowitz's fears and phobias, which are part of his whole playing persona. Nothing about Paderewski's vulgar flashiness that sent many listeners swooning, nor his embellishments and departures from the printed text. There should have been a lot more scholarship on this project, and either fewer pianists dealt with more carefully or a second tape.

Worth checking out, but not essential, as, say, "Richter The Enigma" is.

A most excellent DVD and I would highly recommend as an equally excellent adjunct to this DVD with regard to the era and its rather well known names, "The Golden Age of the Piano" with commentary by David Dubal. In this way you have additional film media input on virtually the same names!

I personally found the mixed bag commentary in "The Art of Piano" quite good and informative in perception(s) and as opposed to mere recitations of "great hands" rhetoric as, for example, when Piotr Anderszewski perceptively comments on Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, to wit, "he really didn't like performing .. he didn't like [doing] recordings either .. he didn't like giving interviews ... he didn't like writing books ... as if he was non existent, like a ghost actually .. he was very much caring how he looked at the piano, completely obsessed with his movements how each muscle should work ... to put the beast [piano] in a cage and make it civilized." All very true! Enter Evgeny Kissin, "We never hear a single wrong note from Michelangeli ... ." Or enter Gyorgy Sandor defending [as I do!] Gyorgy Cziffra who is often unfairly relegated to "a show-boating young Liszt, at double the speed." Or the "wrong notes" thing whenever the names Alfred Cortot and Edwin Fischer are mentioned in pianistic circles although that one comes in handy when I announce [depending on the difficulty of the piece] that I'm "going to do my Cortot and Fischer impression" ! For those in the know, well, they won't wince at any clinkers while others remain duly contented!

Then again, we see no less than Francis Planté in his [then] 90's who saw Chopin play [!] mouthing the words "my God" in a clip where he seems visibly amazed to 'hear' his own playing through one of the wall high earlier recording devices! The range runs from Paderewski to our old friend "GG" [Glenn Gould] complete with the hat, scarf and gloves of course.

BTW, for Paderewski fans, and I remain one of them, if you're looking for the 1937 UK production 'movie' that featured Paderewski entitled "Moonlight Sonata", Amazon and/or various Amazon vendors have it! I must say that the plot [such as it was] is off-beat but Paderewski plays and in fact the clip of him in "The Art of Piano" is taken directly from that 1937 movie although in the DVD clip he does the Liszt piece, the 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody. Great piece that one and yes I've tried it many times --- don't ask -- as the operative words become "tried it" -- not easy to bring off the piece at least as it 'should' be played! The bravura notwithstanding.

For brief comments made in French, German and Russian, sub-titles are available. Interesting too, the commentary on Dame Myra Hess doing those UK war-time afternoon concerts where the commentator says, "What is both interesting and somewhat ironic is that Myra Hess specialized and in fact played at these UK war-time recitals the 'German' classics ... " which only proves that great music can often transcend the times! And misplaced or certainly 'misdirected' prejudices therein.

106 minutes, black and white and color mixed. As to 'length', well, it has to be kept in mind that classical pieces don't easily lend themselves to the old 45 RPM R&R songs in length so that excerpts become by default the order of the day. On the other hand, one of my favorite classical pieces, Beethoven's rather sublime "Appassionata" satisfies me when it 'has' to be cut in the interest of time to the second movement -- think the greatly edited rendition of the piece [via the DVD editors] by Davide Cabassi in the 2005 12th Van Cliburn ["In the Heart of Music"] competition DVD.

Between the literal household names in "The Art of Piano" and the informed commentary by equally well known and duly informed artists, a very enjoyable and enlightening documentary review of a truly pianistic golden age. My favorite? Michelangeli doing the Scarlatti Sonata in B minor [K-27]. Try that one if you want a quick substitute for those fingering dexterity exercises!

Doc Tony

The Art of Piano is a DVD documentary on some of the great pianists. If you are interested in classical music or piano solo music, it's likely that you have heard of some or all of the covered pianists -- e.g. Sviatoslav Richter, Glenn Gould, Arthur Rubenstein, and Claudio Arrau.

The narrative begins with Ignaz Paderewski and ends with Claudio Arrau, and in between those two you get a brief view into the pianists' playing styles with anecdotes from conducters, pianists, composers and the like. At times, the quality is very bad due to old footage, but recent interviews are also featured, for example with Evgeny Kissin.

I can only recommend this DVD to pianist at all levels, because you can see how the piano really should be mastered. Advanced pianist can use it as a constant reference to different playing styles (flat finger position like Glenn Gould and Horowitz, bench heigth etc.), and pianists at beginner level can look at great awe at the masterful technique and emotion that these players are capable of evoking.

The reason I didn't give 5 stars is: a) The overall quality of the documentary is not that great: some pianists are merely mentioned, while others get more length; b) Some great pianists are missed as other reviewers has mentioned; c) Finally, there's no extra material whatsoever, and the duration is only 108 minutes.

However, I still recommend it to pianists, people with interest in classical music, and teachers.

There are some fascinating moments in this recording, for example Horowitz playing his wonderful Carmen variations (marvellous to see although there is a bizarre bit of editing where you momentarily see some footage of Horowitz playing something that doesn't match with the sound!) There is also some stupendous footage of Cziffra playing the Grand Gallope Chromatique. I found the whole thing rather charming, but not at all profound. It is really a collection of thumbnail sketches of the various pianists included (and I agree with the other reviewer who commented that some notable great pianists seem to have been left out). Not bad.

My wife and I both took piano lessons when we were growing up. Although neither of us became really proficient at the piano, we both greatly enjoy listening to virtuoso piano performances and have an extensuve collection of classical piano CDs.. This DVD covers most of the famous performers familiar to Americans during the 20th century and some European performers with whom we were not familiar. If you are looking for complete performances of pieces, this is not for you, but the music is a good sampling and illustrates the various personal styles of the artists featured. The motion picture footage of the artists and the movement of their hands on the keyboard is facinating. The commentary also provides insights to the performers backgrounds and personalities.