The Art of Piano

Makes you glad to be a keyboardist
Wonderful performances and interviews with famous keyboardists of the last century were a great pleasure to watch... in fact, have watched the video many times and learn something new with each viewing. As an amateur pianist, I am amazed to find that the masters also have their quirks and problems but have managed to work them into a personal style that led to fame and critical praise. It makes me glad to be a VERY minor member in a group of such amazing artists. In this day and age of everyone who can sing along with their favorite pop song expecting to land a recording career minus the HUGE amount of training it takes to learn the technical aspects of music, it is great to watch these old masters who slaved over theory lessons, scales, and finger exercises. Their knowledge of the art of music is truly inspiring. I want to go right out and start taking some more lessons - and I'm an old lady HAHA. A must-have video for anyone who enjoys classical music.

Given as a gift
This was given as a gift to a classical pianist and he truly loved it. He appreciates anything he can get his hands on that is piano-related.



Click to Editorial Reviews

The Art of Singing

Much stunningly good, some not so much
This disc has a large number of small snippets, and several more extended bands, of very fine singers of the past. For the most part, these selections should be considered as supplementary material - giving an interesting visual representation of the great singers and their performance practices of the past 100 years - rather than as exciting performances, which you would watch frequently for their entertainment value. Needless to say, the quality of the audio and video varies widely from the crude early selections, through the fuzzy cinemas of the 1930's to the relatively acceptable quality of the later singers in the 1960's.

While there are several singers who are also very capable actors presented here, most artists are concentrating on their singing. One also needs to consider that not only is it difficult to accompany what are essentially sung monologs with meaningful gestures, these performers normally performed on stage in large concert halls; thus their gestures and...

Bjorling and Tebaldi...
The Boheme scene featuring Bjorling and Tebaldi is the greatest opera perfomance on film. Tebaldi is radiant and charming and in prime voice. Bjorling is the ideal Rodolfo and his acting is completely natural. He does nothing more or less than needed. Charles Laughton's personal and heartfelt introduction is obviously in his own words. Magda Olivero's Vissi D'arte is incomplete as is Parigi, o cara by Callas and Kraus. Leontyne Price's nearly perfect vibrato is on display in a well done O patria mia and the great Wunderlich delivers a great performance of Tamino's aria. The "singing actors," Christoff,Callas and Vickers deliver intense performances that may seem over the top as taken out of context and on the small screen. The young Sutherland and Corelli are both spectacular and De Los Angeles,Gigli and Schipa all deliver prime performances.



Click to Editorial Reviews