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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Golden Age of the Piano (1993)

The Golden Age of the Piano (1993) (NTSC)

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Released 1-Jul-2003

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Classical Booklet
Bonus Track-Claudio Arrau-Mendelssohn-Rondo Capriccioso in E
Bonus Track-Van Cliburn-Schumann/Liszt: Widmung
Bonus Track-Alfred Cortot-Claude Debussy: Children's Corner
Bonus Track-Myra Hess-Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata in F minor, Op. 57
Bonus Track-Claudio Arrau with Riccardo Muti - Beethoven Concerto no 4
Rating Rated E
Year Of Production 1993
Running Time 63:30 (Case: 80)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Peter Rosen
Studio
Distributor
Peter Rosen
Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring David Dubal
Case Flexbox
RPI $36.95 Music None Given


Video (NTSC) Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 mono (1536Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles French
German
Italian
Spanish
Chinese
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    This is a 1993 American documentary about great pianists of the Twentieth Century. The essential premise is that this Golden Age came to a close with the death of three pianists born in 1903: Vladimir Horowitz, who died in 1989 and Rudolf Serkin and Claudio Arrau, both of whom passed on in 1991. The programme is written and presented by David Dubal, an American academic and pianist.

    Much of the programme is taken up with the development of the piano from its invention by Cristobaldi in the early 1700s to the present day. A string of famous and not-so-famous composers are represented by extracts of performances of their works by a similar string of famous pianists captured on film. We see Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Alexander Brailowsky, Wanda Landowska, Myra Hess, Glenn Gould, Percy Grainger, Artur Rubinstein, Josef Hoffman and so on. Following this are performances by the three legends of the keyboard, and Van Cliburn.

    I found this documentary both annoying and fascinating. It was fascinating because of the films of those famous pianists, and I wish that longer complete performances could have been shown. But no sooner do we get started on any piece than the commentator returns to give some flowery prose about the performer or composer. Only one work gets played through intact: Horowitz playing Scriabin's Étude, something of a signature work for this pianist. Even then this same performance was shown in extract earlier in the documentary.

    Another thing I find annoying is the American-centric nature of the commentary. Arrau, we are told, was "born furthest away". Furthest away from what? A piano? Schnabel is mentioned in passing, but there is no mention of Backhaus, Kempff, Gilels, Richter, Bolet, Cziffra, Benedetti Michelangeli - the list of absentees is very long. Van Cliburn, a Texan whose career dwindled down to nothing after a meteoric beginning, is the only living pianist shown. The suggestion is that the piano tradition has ended with the demise of these great pianists, and so no mention is made of Kissin, Perahia, Pletnev, Brendel, Janis, Hamelin, Pollini, Ashkenazy, Argerich and many others. Pianism is a still living tradition. Perhaps what has been lost is the sense of individual creativity, with modern interpreters more concerned with following the letter of the score than with imposing their own interpretations on works. But this is just the current fashion, and tastes change over time and the piano tradition shows no sign of stalling.

    I was also annoyed with the excessively superficial descriptions of the music, the pianists and their art. There is little depth here. Even though some time is spent on the three famous deceased players, no attempt is made to explain why they were great or how they differed from each other. It was also irritating to keep hearing mention of "Arthur" Rubinstein - his name is "Artur", please - in these days we have no need to anglicise the names of people. One last annoyance is the absence of any information about the performers or the performances - no dates or sources are given.

    This programme would be good as an introduction to the instrument and its history, but for those who are familiar with the educational material here, the interest lies in the footage of famous pianists of the past (and the substantial extras that are included). If you want more depth, then the release titled The Art of Piano would be of more value.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The programme is presented in what seems to have been the original aspect ratio of 1.31:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. This is an NTSC transfer.

    The programme was originally recorded on video, and for the most part well recorded. The recently recorded segments are sharp and clear, with only that lack of fine detail which is inherent in video recordings. Such fine detail is not really required here.

    Contrast levels are excellent in the recent material, with slightly muted but acceptable colour. The archival footage is in black and white, apart from some brief silent colour footage (which includes shots of Leon Trotsky!) and more recent video recordings. The older material is in variable condition. Some of it has poor contrast or just looks soft. There are a lot of film artefacts, in fact every artefact you can think of.

    The only "new" artefact of any note is aliasing. There is a tendency show old drawings with the camera zooming in, and most of the aliasing occurs in these shots. There is also some moire effect as well.

    Optional subtitles are provided, but unfortunately not in English. The disc is dual-layered, with the main programme being on one layer and the extras on another, so there are no layer change annoyances.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio for the main programme is Linear PCM 2.0 mono. There is no need for stereo sound as all of the excerpts would have been recorded in mono.

    The audio for the newer portions is not the best, with some harshness and distortion noticeable. The older material has all sorts of artefacts, mainly hiss and crackle. Of course if you are used to historical recordings, then this will not be overly disturbing. I did not find any of the problems with the audio at all distracting.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    The makers of this disc have tried to have it both ways by including the running time of all of the extras bar the Arrau concerto in the running time of the main feature on the cover. In fact, the running time displayed when the disc is played includes these extras, but after the main feature has ended the disc returns to the main menu, and the additional performances need to be selected from the menu.

    That being said, the extras are substantial, and the only annoyance is the lack of documentation about them.

Claudio Arrau-Mendelssohn-Rondo Capriccioso in E (4.55)

   Old and riddled with film artefacts, this footage is of a much younger Arrau playing this short piece by Mendelssohn. This short has been filmed from several angles. At 3:19 there are a few frames missing which interrupts the music.

Van Cliburn-Schumann/Liszt: Widmung (3:22)

    This is concert footage of the pianist in his prime, in a large auditorium. There are some video tracking errors noticeable at the bottom of the frame.

Alfred Cortot-Claude Debussy: Children's Corner: Serenade for the doll & Golliwog's cake-walk (5.22)

    These two excerpts are from a 1936 film by Marcel L'Herbier, an attempt to provide a narrative for Debussy's music, with a child in a playroom imagining her toys coming to life.

Myra Hess-Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata in F minor, Op. 57 "Appassionata" (first movement) (9:20)

    Dame Myra Hess playing the first movement of the sonata in London's National Gallery. The recording suffers from incessant crackle and the occasional pop.

Claudio Arrau with Philadelphia Orchestra/Riccardo Muti-Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto #4 in G Major, Op. 58 (complete) (38:02)

    This is the most substantial extra, a 1983 performance of the complete concerto with Claudio Arrau accompanied by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti. A fine performance, though Arrau seems a little measured, taking his time over phrasing. For a video production it is well recorded, in Linear PCM 2.0 stereo, and is in colour.

Booklet

    A 28-page booklet lists each work performed and the performer, but no information about when it was filmed. There are production credits and five pages of text from a book by Dubal, which is then repeated in French and German.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The disc is identical to that released in all other regions, so there is no reason not to buy this where it is cheapest and most convenient.

Summary

    Some footage of some great pianists, not in the optimal format.

    The video quality of the older footage requires the viewer to make allowances, as does the audio quality. The more recent footage and audio is not as good as it could have been.

    There are some substantial extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Philip Sawyer (Bio available.)
Monday, March 07, 2005
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-S733A, using Component output
DisplaySony 86CM Trinitron Wega KVHR36M31. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player, Dolby Digital, dts and DVD-Audio. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationSony TA-DA9000ES
SpeakersMain: Tannoy Revolution R3; Centre: Tannoy Sensys DCC; Rear: Richter Harlequin; Subwoofer: JBL SUB175

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