Product Details

• Actors: Anthony Paratore, Joseph Paratore
• Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: French (PCM Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
• DVD Release Date: June 27, 2000
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305884374
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #135,500 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Brothers Joseph and Anthony Paratore showcase their astounding talent in four live performances of groundbreaking works from the early 20th century, all transcribed for dual pianos. Arguably the greatest work of the 20th century, and certainly the most radically new, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring shook the music world's foundations at its 1913 Paris premiere, causing an unprecedented scandal and near riot. The Paratores perform this eerie, evocative version with perfect, almost matter-of-fact, equality.

Three Quarter-Tone Pieces, according to Charles Ives, was never meant to be a finished piece, rather an experiment in quarter-tone harmonies. Yet it has all the sophistication and polish of a finely crafted work of art, and the Paratores' performance is captivating. George Gershwin's Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue, two works of startling originality and greatness from an extraordinarily talented and prolific composer-songwriter, achieve bold new dimensions at the Paratores' hands. --Kathy Henning

Product Description
An exciting concert, performed by Joseph and Anthony Paratore on two pianos, features four groundbreaking works by twentieth century composers. One of which caused a riot, two became immediately popular and endearing to concert audiences and one remains important as an exploration of the future in music. Igor Stravinsky's ground breaking piece the "The Rite of Spring" is considered the most famous and groundbreaking composition of the early twentieth century. George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Concerto in F" are two of the most popular pieces by an American composer for Orchestra, and are one of the first classical compositions to be influenced by jazz. Charles Ives is a uniquely individualistic American composer. His iconoclastic and rarely performed work "Three Quarter Tone Pieces" is featured as a tribute to Ives and his musical vision. This DVD also includes the option of viewing running commentaries on the pieces as they are performed as well as liner notes, a glossary of music terms, historical markers for the pieces, and performer profiles. Audio playback options are 5.1 dolby digital and non-compressed stereo.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Winner in My Book, August 30, 2001

By	Eric Sjolander (Calabasas, CA USA) - See all my reviews

The Paratore brothers are technical perfectionists. They play together as one. Their timing and blending make the two concert grands sound as a single instrument.
I was particularly impressed by their playing of "Rhapsody in Blue" without a score. It is a DVD that I play again and again
The audio quality gives it a sound that is better than sitting in a concert hall. I am happy to have it in my DVD collection.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile but disappointing, March 9, 2003

By	David H. Downing (West Chester/Exton, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This concert by pianists Joseph and Anthony Paratore is an example of the kind of intelligent, sophisticated programming I'd like to see on DVD more often. Unfortunately, this particular example was a bit of a disappointment. To begin with, only one of the four pieces -- THREE QUARTER-TONE PIECES, by Charles Ives -- was originally written for two pianos. The other three are reductions, made by the Paratores, of pieces originally written for orchestra. While it's both understandable and appropriate for the performers to include some of their own arrangements, I don't think these should have formed the majority of the program. At least half of the concert should have been devoted to pieces actually composed for two pianos -- pieces that don't get performed very often because of the logistics of getting two grand pianos together on one stage. In particular, I wish the program had included Steve Reich's PIANO PHASE.

Ironically, my second beef concerns the piece I was most interested in -- the aforementioned Charles Ives piece. The piece requires that one of the pianos be tuned a quarter-tone sharp, and I was hoping to see how they managed to make this happen and still have the pianos conventionally tuned for the pieces preceding and following. (I assume they swapped pianos.) Instead, the concert was edited to create the illusion that nothing had been changed for the Ives piece or changed back afterward. I realize that part of the point of a video presentation is to create this kind of illusion, but they could have included the piano-swapping as an extra for those who were interested.

And speaking of the point of video, part of it is to provide views of the event that you couldn't get in real life, and one such view is never provided here. There are long shots of the two performers, and close-ups of each performer's hands of the keys, but never any kind of split-screen close-ups that show both keyboards and both sets of hands simultaneously. You could argue that this is a "cheap trick," out of place in a classical concert, but again, they could have included it as an extra.

What they have included is a running textual commentary that you can turn on or off, which I felt added to the presentation. And the surround sound really made me feel like I was there. So, despite my disappointment, it was still a worthwhile experience.

4.0 out of 5 stars Mostly the composers' own versions for 2 pianists., September 22, 2008

By	Scratcher (UK) - See all my reviews

I have only just got this DVD and am very impressed with it. Now let's get this right, the only arrangement by the Paratores is that of the Rhapsody in Blue. The Rite of Spring is Stravinsky's own original two piano version. I don't know whose version of the Gershwin Concerto in F is used, except that, unlike that of Rhapsody in Blue, it is not credited to the Paratores. It sounds to me like the standard published 4 hands version credited to Gershwin himself.

The Ives is not quite as well done (I refer to the performance, not the work) as the Stravinsky and Gershwin, but it is still well worth hearing.