Interviews with and documentaries about great pianists

pianoloverus

A thread for posting your favorite interviews/documentaries and for comments about them. There are thousands of these on Youtube and here are a few I enjoy.

rsl12

pianoloverus Thanks for the links.. I'll look through these later when I have time. For some reason I thought you were going to participate in the Piano Recital, but I see you didn't. Hope all is well.

pianoloverus

pseudonym58

Great idea, @pianoloverus
I'll definitely come back here when I have time to watch some of them.

iternabe

No video, but I find this transcript of Bruce Duffie’s interview of György Sándor a fascinating read.

There are more transcripts of interview of pianists on this page (scroll down to Group Four).

Ornstein

The host in some of these videos (such as the interviews with Mao Fujita and Daniil Trifonov) is kind of interesting. he was interviewed (for a change) here I think he has interesting perspective on starting later than a lot of the famous pianists (age 9), then Sergei Babayan accepting him as a student at Cleveland Institute (Daniil Trifonov was his upstairs neighbor).

My favorite full documentary is Horowitz the Last Romantic:

It's unique in that most documentaries have a priority of furthering a 'profound genius musician' kind of aura for whoever the pianist is and trying to build up a legacy. It gets to a point the seriousness and level of formality is too much. So to see one of the greatest pianists being so casual and being that unpretentious is heartwarming. The legacy is so taken for granted the documentary can just let him be himself. The people from Steinway or his management company like Peter Gelb also talk to him so normally. I think classical music interviewers lay it on very thick, leading into questions with over the top compliments.

pianoloverus

Ornstein The host in some of these videos (such as the interviews with Mao Fujita and Daniil Trifonov) is kind of interesting. he was interviewed (for a change) here I think he has interesting perspective on starting later than a lot of the famous pianists (age 9), then Sergei Babayan accepting him as a student at Cleveland Institute (Daniil Trifonov was his upstairs neighbor)

Thanks for that video. I had gathered Bognar was a professional musician but knew nothing about him.

pianoloverus

An absolutely sensational pianist IMO. Listen to his unusually slow but very beautiful playing of the Chopin Waltz in C# minor at the end of the second video.

pianoloverus

I have heard him live in concert and masterclasses and think he is sensationally good for both. The thing that surprised me so much is that in performance he is very dispassionate in his demeanor (not in his playing) but he is the opposite when teaching.

thepianoplayer416

Featured pianist Víkingur Ólafsson:

Reflections of his performances from Aristo Sham:

Upcoming young virtuoso from Vancouver, Canada Ryan Wang:

Danieru

Clare Hammond

Simonb

Two that I particularly like are:

"Set the Piano Stool on Fire", which is a documentary featuring Alfred Brendel and his protege Kit Armstrong. Not sure it's on Youtube, but you can (or could) buy the DVD.

"Mike Garson & his 88 friends", which is a documentary about Mike Garson, the Pianist who recorded on the most David Bowie albums, and played live with Bowie more than anyone. Don't think this is just a documentary about another pop Pianist. Mike Garson is a true virtuoso in both Jazz & Classical. Again this is (or was) available on DVD.

Here's the trailer:

Here's the full film:

Cheers

lilypad

Simonb Mike Garson and His 88 Friends is free for Amazon Prime members at the moment. I'm not sure if that varies by country. I haven't seen it yet, but have it added to my watch list.

Simonb

Thanks lilypad

I bought the DVD when it first came out.
He is a remarkable musician, and it's well worth a watch.

Cheers

iternabe

Simonb

Here's a couple more of my favourites:

Sadly the full version can't be shared on other websites, but is available in sections, so this is just a sample of the 50+ minute interview.

If there has ever been a cooler guy than Count Basie, please let me know. This is a mixture of music and chat - which is frequently very funny. The BBC have the whole of this OP series on tape, but this is the only one available to watch.

Cheers