Product Details

• Actors: Zoltán Kocsis
• Format: Classical, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• 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: Nutech Digital
• DVD Release Date: October 5, 2004
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00020HAGA
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #111,222 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Tonal Portraits of 3 Great Composers..., August 27, 2004

By	BLee "bpslee" (HK) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Kocsis has obviously done justice to the great tradition of Lizst- Dohnanyi - Bartok, which also brings him to more or less the same level with Rachmaninov, Cortot, Robert Casadesus and Kempff. For as an acknowledged composer, Kocsis obviously has an edge: he possesses more depth and imagination than most contemporary pianists. In short, this DVD can you tell why he deserves to be one of Philips great pianists of the century, and why Richter was so keen to see him perform. And that may also explain why he despises any first rate pianist/second rate musician.

Kocsis has captured the spirit of these 3 pieces very well, albeit in a way that the respective composers themselves wouldn't and couldn't have done so at their own time-- it is a rather modern romantic approach. In his Mozart, there is so much drama, and a tension which reminds us so strongly of Mozart's operas, of his own fate, and the death of his father etc. Contrasts are huge and fast at times. Less so is his Beethoven and it is interesting as well as instuctive to dig into the reasons why he gave it such a treatment. His Schubert is played with a tone so sad that goes right into the darkness of Schubert's fate. Despite the dynamics and tempi as well as his tones that could change so fast plus quite a number of prolonged pauses, Kocsis has the facilities and the wizardry to "swing" the audience in a most transcendental way within virtually the first few bars.

The footage is rather short and runs for about 80 minutes without any encores. The recorded sound and photography is not too outstanding according to modern statndard. There is sufficient coverage of his hands from a very comfortable point of view (but not quite enough for the ardent pianist viewers to whom nothing less than fulltime coverage would do.) And the hall which the recital given was like a salon, small and cozy enough.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As wonderful as Kocsis's CDs -- Buy without reservation, October 4, 2005

By	Dr. Ervin Nieves - See all my reviews

Zoltan Kocsis is a beautiful pianist in the best possible sense. He epitomizes my imaginary image of Beethoven playing the piano passionately and effortlessly. I wish the DVD program had been longer. This is my only complaint. Yet here is a wonderful pianist showcased in his prime. I would have loved to have heard Kocsis play Debussy and Bartok, which he plays magnificently. Perhaps a second longer DVD is in order?!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Proofread before publishing, June 3, 2005

By	George A. Benedict "Griz" (Billings, Montana USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Schubert piano sonata is VERY HARD TO ACCESS. It seems that the whole Schubert piece is hidden inside the Beethoven Opus 111 Arietta. The pianist Kocsis is very good indeed, and I imagine he might well think it insulting to hide the Schubert so unthinkingly.