The Verbier Festival & Academy 10th Anniversary: Piano Extravaganza

The Verbier Festival & Academy 10th Anniversary: Piano Extravaganza Review

Invaluable info and opinions have already been given, with which I largely agree. And of course I bought the disc for the Bach, which did not disappoint in the least. Here's what I have to add:

The Mozart K521 (duet with Argerich and Kissin) has always struck me as pretty trite. But these two play the hell out of it, and it is truly fascinating to watch their technique up close as well as their cheerful interaction.

The camera-work is at times overly busy, but mostly quite a good balance of tasteful and interesting. They showed me quite a bit of what I wanted to see, which is no small feat when navigating 4-8 pianos.

I'm afraid Lang Lang doing seemingly everything in his power to get more attention than his 7 costars (by sheer theater) was rather nauseating. Thankfully, he is completely absent from the serious works on this disc! He only plays in the big 8-piano arrangements. I much prefer the humble approach taken by... well, everyone else on stage. They are consummate professionals. It's really fascinating to watch their faces as they respond to their own and others' playing; it's like a mini personality survey of the major players in the piano world.

The Rossini, Wagner, Benjamin, Gottschalk, and Rimsky-Korsafov offer no surprises and little value beyond the novelty, unless you just love background music, medleys of bland popular melodies, Lang Lang, and that sort of thing.

However, the Morton Gould "Stars and Stripes Forever Suite" (arranged by Michael Rot) was a delightful surprise! Musically, again, nothing to write home about (though more substantive than the pieces I just mentioned), but here's where the camerawork and the ensemble dynamics really came together. When I think of the unique texture and visual possibilities of a piano extravaganza, this is what I imagine. For example, lovely shots across the four keyboards aligned on each side, showing eight arms at once (or sixteen in a gimmicky but effective split-screen shot) in synchronized/syncopated movement. And lots of technique to wow at, since Gould/Rot demands quite a few pianistic tricks, which are accomplished with zeal and joy.

So I'd hazard to say if you are looking at this page in the first place, you will probably get a lot of enjoyment out of the disc. One last thing: I actually found a clip from this concert (from the Bach) on youtube before I even knew the DVD was available. Poor quality of course, but a great way to see if this stuff will strike your fancy.

The Verbier Festival & Academy 10th Anniversary: Piano Extravaganza Overview

PIANO EXTRAVAGANZA - DVD Movie

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