 |  | False advertising!!! I'm sorry!!! |  |
I was seriously disappointed with this dvd. I cried HUZZAH OH JOY PRAISE THE LORD when I heard there was going to be a DVD of Marc-Andre Hamelin performing. But then I watched it. I wanted to cry I was so mad. The first half, the documentary, is good, and it's understandable that they only play excerpts of THE MAN performing. BUT THEN for the second half,"THE RECITAL," you only get one-or-two-or-three minute chunks from a few different works. That's not a recital. It's mislabeled... And then when they actually do show Hamelin playing there's LOTS of talking and LOTS of "pretty pictures" of nature and stuff. Oh why couldn't they just put out a disc of Hamelin playing a couple pieces of music. If "It's All About the Music" then why don't they just let the music play! The DVD does, however, have some interesting stuff. It's great to see Hamelin play even if only for little bits here and there, I'll take what I can get but there are certain expectations that come with making a purchase... Hamelin has some interesting things to say, and I just love his personality. And It's great to see Ronald Stevenson still going at it (I love him). I already own the composer-pianists book plugged and referred to a couple of times, so I could've done without that. Oh, I hate giving negative reviews, I seriously wanted to be in love with this... Hopefully in the future (near future, I pray) there'll be a DVD (more than one, I pray) of Hamelin performing which won't be butchered by voice-overs and lovely Canadian scenery.
May 25, 2007 | | Extraordinary as it should be | |
An extraordinay artist indeed. A sense of unlimited resourses and technical ease is evident from the first chord as it should be in any really good pianist. Sincere and full of nuances in every phrasing and I really recomend this DVD.
May 12, 2007Great DVD. Amazing playing. Mr. Hamelin plays VERY difficult pieces with high level musicianship, and most of the material is from live concerts. The pieces played include about 7 etudes by Chopin-Godowsky and other pieces mostly from XX century composers.
On the negative side, the concert (which is the second part of the DVD)is interupted by interviews and there is no other way to skip them than fast forwarding since the DVD chapters do not match the pieces (!). But with this quality of performance the producers could have programmed no chapters at all, I'd still give this DVD 5 stars.
March 20, 2007Marc-Andre Hamelin is undoubtedly the greatest living exponent of the music of the "composer-pianists", and sets the bar unbelievably high when he chooses to play standard repertoire. I have been greedily snapping up his CDs for years, and jumped at the opportunity to own a DVD containing interviews and conversation. It is almost unnecessary to review this DVD for content, since its subject is an artist who is making history in our own time. Proud owners of Hofmann, Rachmaninoff, and Lhevinne recordings will jump at this opportunity, and all pianists should expose themselves to playing on this level, which is nearly unbelievable in its command, accuracy, endurance and clarity. Hamelin's dedication to the composers of pianistic music will force their entry into a part of the repertoire that will eventually be heard by a larger public than at present. Get this DVD! Marc-Andre Hamelin is making history.
January 4, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
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