The Art of Piano - Great Pianists of 20th Century

Rating:
Summary: An ingenious movie
Review: This movie is wonderful for an introduction to the greatist pianists of our time. This movie gives you a variety of pianists from Plante to Arrau. This movie gives a brief description about why the pianist was so great and then play a composition or two with the pianist playing. My favorite section was about Glenn Gould. He played a Bach Partita, a transcription of Ravel's La Valse(transcribed by himself), and finally, he played the first Bach Piano Concerto with Leonard Bernstein conducting. Then they have pianists such as Gyorgy Sandor, Piotr Anderszewski, Daniel Barenboim, and Evgeny Kissin talking about the pianists on this video. Some examples of the pianists on this show are Ignaz Paderewski, Vladimir Horowitz, Josef Hofmann, Arthur Rubenstein, Glenn Gould, Alfred Cortot, Sviatoslav Richter, Wilhelm Backhaus, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and many others. The only female pianist in this movie is Myra Hess, who is a highly gifted virtuoso on the piano. You will notice in this movie that mostly every pianist either plays on a Steinway, Bosendorfer, or Pleyel piano. I highly reccomend this movie to anybody, even somebody who does not know who Vladimir Horowitz is. You should, at all costs, watch this ingenious movie.

Rating:
Summary: A Treasure for Classical Enthusiasts
Review: 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?

Rating:
Summary: Exellent pianism!!
Review: This video is one of the most extraordinary documentary about the the great pianists. We have rarities like Planté, or Moseiwitsch with a espetacular Variations of Carmen played by Horowitz when the pianist had 65 years old. Another legend is Czifra that play the Grand Galop Cromatique in a excitment executation. A good video about legends of the piano!!

Rating:
Summary: You'll Never get Board Watching this one!!
Review: When I saw this 2 hour program on tv, I was shocked with all the old but great footage! There are some recordings shown from the thirtys, fortys, up until present. This VHS Starts off with a few great pianists playing the first of Beethoven masterwork the "Apassionata sonata." They switch off pianists during the piece. They tell 20 of the great pianists of the century life stories. Famous musicians such as Evegeny Kissin and Daniel Barenboim discuss these pianist thoughout the VHS. I watch this almosts every night because each time I learn something new about Josef Hoffman or Vladimir Horowitz etc. This 1 is a keeper!

Rating:
Summary: Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden
Review: Yes, this video is quite appealing in its incredible clips of many of the great pianists of the past but I would like to ask a question-where are the women?! There are only two women represented-Myra Hess and Annie Fischer, who plays the Minute Waltz practically during the final credits. What about Clara Haskill or Guimar Novaes or any other of a host of wonderful women pianists? Of course if there are no clips of them that is telling in itself. Plus, all the commentators are male. What about asking someone like Martha Agerich for her comments! Anyone who doubts that there is a white male aesthetic should watch this video. And incidentally, the fact that none of the other reviewers even sees anything amiss with this picture just proves the point.