The Golden Age of Piano

Customer Reviews:

Part II of "The Art of Piano" only now rounded out! .......2007-05-05

A few matters on this one: This DVD is an excellent adjunct to "The Art of Piano: Great Pianists of the 20th Century" because what one leaves out, the other picks up.

As for David Dubal as narrator, well, I like David in his many tomes but visually [and those threads aside], I think he all too often reverts, so to speak, back to the lectern at Juilliard while making [and phrasing] remarks as if his viewing audience were just now mastering "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" followed by "Chopsticks." Or perhaps waiting for the muse to strike while "listening" [!] to 4'33"! You know, the DVD 'windshield wiper' revelation about Josef Hofmann or the perpetual doom and gloom 'end of the romantic era' as if to suggest that with the great names of the era now gone, well, so too any possible replacements which further suggests that anything subsequent to the great names would be a mere shadow of what was and hence simply can not be again. Why is that? One could argue that David speaks more of the 'era' being gone versus the music and the interpreters yet the 'era' still lives today essentially 'through' its music and its interpreters, yes?

I know David was a great fan and ardent admirer of Horowitz with a book dedicated to same and an accompanying "Conversations with Horowitz" CD [and which I have, BTW, in fact, I have 'all' of David Dubal's books, they are that good!] but then too the music did not die, as the old song goes, with the passing of Horowitz. Or Arrau. Or Serkin. Et al. The war-horse pieces endure and great interpreters still exist with others waiting in the wings. Put another way, 'demand' will always assure 'supply' as they say [or as our old friend "Father Guido Sarducci" put it in the SNL "5 minute university" skit] not to mention the fact that pianistic prodigies have obviously not ceased being born.

Nor too those who hold dear the music of the so-termed romantic era. Thus far, and quite mercifully, 4'33" or the so-called "prepared piano" [you know, screws, bolts, spoons, marbles, et al fixed or 'free fall' , as it were, on the piano 'strings'] dissonance for the 'sake' of dissonance renditions have 'not' become the vogue of the masses. Hence the war-horses duly survive. As do their willing and able interpreters.

Together with "The Art of Piano" DVD, the "Golden Age of Piano" makes an excellent addition to any classical music video library. This one has an additional bonus feature of Claudio Arrau doing Beethoven's 4th piano concerto with a rather young Riccardo Muti [late of La Scala] although Claudio gives a great performance. I see some refer to Claudio in this piece as "well past his prime" but hey, get a gander of Francis Planté well in his 90's [that clip pf Planté in "The Art of Piano" DVD] doing that Chopin Etude No. 7 in C, Op. 10, fess up now, could you do better? Speaking of Claudio Arrau though, and one of my favorite war-horse piece interpreters, I would highly recommend the DVD "Claudio Arrau: The Emperor" which focuses on his return to Chile in 1984 and, inter alia, the rendition of his almost life-long signature piece, Beethoven's mighty and majestic 5th ["Emperor"] piano concerto.

Doc Tony

unsatisfaction.......2006-08-12

My order doesn't come at me until to today!
I contact you, but I don't had a satisfactory response!
I hope a solution! Please!!!

Nice DVD, but..........2005-11-09

''The Golden Age of Piano'' is very nice DVD. It contains a lot of interesting info, but... there are no Schnabbel, Godowsky, Buzoni, Michelangeli, Ginzburg, Lipatti, Solomon, Fischer, Argerich, Pollini.....
Everyone who plays piano shall know these names!
There are not so much about De Pachman. He was not so good pianist, but so? Paderevsky wasn't it too! De Pachman was one of the most popular pianists of 1st half of 20 century, and got rights to be here!

5 Stars Nonetheless.......2005-06-14

Regrettably, the host is dull and his comments are often biased. Moreover, a lot of the clips overlap those of "The Art of Piano". Having said that, this DVD is rich in materials. We are provided with a lot of photos/paintings of the legendary pianists, their background as well as the birth of modern pianos and their predecessors.

With Paderewski (Chopin Polanaise and his own Minuet), Hoffmann (Rachmaninoff), Horowitz (Scriabin), and Myra Hess (Apassionata), Serkin (Beethoven), we have exactly the same footage/s. For Cortot, we have some music videos,i.e., a child playing in a corner with some toys to the music. We could only see Cortot's wrists not hands for literally a couple of seconds and that is all-- a great disappointment for Cortot's fans!

The most valuable things that this DVD gives us include: Landowski playing on a harpsichord with a very special kind of finger position. Likewise, Grainger is interesting as he shows us the Busoni/Egon Petri approach, namely "picking up the keys".

For Rubinstein's fans, they could have a glimpse of him playing in a studio recording session with his forearms bare. Moreover, we can see how he listen and respond to his own recording. Serkin was as passionate and colourful and Horowitz as fascinating as ever.

For Van Clibern fans, there are 2 or 3 of his clips which are all very nice albeit somewhat short. Glenn Gould clips is short too, but we have plenty of him in the market. I'm not too sure how many viewers are interested in Brailowski nowadays, but his Chopin is nice nevertheless.

The crown of the jewel here is of course Arrau. Arrau was a child prodigy (a thorough bred in Rubinstein's word) before he went to Berlin and stayed for 7 years to study the piano with Martin Klause, one of Lizst's favourite pupils. His Lizst repertoire including the 12 Transcendal Etudes, Concert Paraphrases on Operas by Verdi, 5 Concert Studies and Pelerinage etc are one of the very best available ever. Not only was his Lizst repertoire much wider than Horowitz but was also more convincing, albeit both are equally staggering. His Lizst legacy is of equal importance with his Beethoven, if not more. I like Cziffra's Lizst ( and his Chopin too ), but I would go back to Arrau more often. In any event, I don't enjoy Earl Wild or even Bolet's Lizst quite as much: for an alternative, I rather go to Lupu.

Here not only do we have his Beethoven no. 4 in full, played with the Philidaephia under Muti, we further have 3 or 4 other short clips of him when he was still very much in his prime which could somehow show us the flexiblity of his arms: they are just like two snakes. Even though his no. 4 is past his prime, the whole performamce was nonetheless a success not just in view of his age at all. In any rate, it much better than Uchida's recent rendition in almost every score!

Simply another not to be missed.

Incomplete, but fine.......2004-11-15

As a pianist myself, I find it delightful and great to watch legendary performers. This DVD, has what we are looking for. We see clips of Horowitz, Arrau, Cortot, Serkin, Paderewski,.... But where are Schnabel, Kempff, Fischer, Backhaus....? I don't think they can't be considered Golden..... However, as the documentary goes on, we get introduced to the history of this magnificent instrument, the first recordings,.... It also comes with a great bonus. Claudio Arrau performing Beethoven Piano Concerto no.4 with Philadelphia orchestra and Riccardo Muti. Arrau may not be at his best, but I don't think there is any other filmed performane of Array playing this concerto.

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