Pianomania
Encyclopedia
Pianomania is a 2009 German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

-Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 by directors Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis. The film presents Stefan Knüpfer, a virtuoso piano tuner, in his work with pianists such as Lang Lang
Lang Lang
Lang Lang may refer to:* Lang Lang , Chinese pianist* Lang Lang, Victoria, a town in Australia* Lang Lang River, a river in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia* A character from the Japanese manga Steam Detectives-See also:...

, Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.-Biography:...

 and Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a French pianist. He was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio....

.

Synopsis

The collaborative work between Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a French pianist. He was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio....

 and Stefan Knüpfer is at the center of the film. Bach's
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

 The Art of Fugue is to be recorded. Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a French pianist. He was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio....

 has decided in favor of concert grand piano Nr. 109 for the Bach recording. The film begins one year before the recording.

Knüpfer wants to study instruments from the time of Bach for Aimard. He experiments with sound absorbers made from felt and with glass sound mirrors. But as fate will have it, the number 109 grand piano is sold to Australia a few months later; and that is not the last obstacle that gets in their way. Knüpfer and Aimard meet regularly, and when the tension is so thick it can be cut with a knife, Knüpfer saves the day with his sense of humor. The road toward the pianist’s longed for “bravo” is long.

One afternoon, a rather sleepy artist in jeans and sneakers shows up. It is the Chinese star pianist Lang Lang
Lang Lang
Lang Lang may refer to:* Lang Lang , Chinese pianist* Lang Lang, Victoria, a town in Australia* Lang Lang River, a river in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia* A character from the Japanese manga Steam Detectives-See also:...

, who will be giving a guest performance in the Viennese
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 concert hall. Still suffering from jet lag, he has to choose an instrument to play. His overcrowded tour calendar leaves little time for individual settings. Instead, and almost shyly, he asks for a heavy bench that will hold up through his extroverted style of playing without sliding around. The Piano superstar completes his performance in the large hall in a dark suit and wild hairstyle. The bench holds up, and he receives thunderous applause.

The sketches of the comedy duo Igudesman & Joo
Igudesman & Joo
Igudesman & Joo is a duo comprising classical musicians, Aleksey Igudesman and Richard Hyung-ki Joo, whose shows combine comedy with classical music and popular culture...

 always parody the elitist music world. Together with Knüpfer they come up with some of the craziest scenarios for the next show.

One of Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.-Biography:...

's last concerts takes place at the Grafenegg Music Festival
Grafenegg Music Festival
The Grafenegg Music Festival is a new major international Austrian festival for classical music close to Vienna. The annual festival takes place on the grounds of Grafenegg Castle...

. Knüpfer prepares the piano for him while the star pianist gives his directions humorously.

Technical aspects

Corresponding to the struggle of the protagonists to find the perfect sound, the sound recording of the film itself was made with great efforts. All the scenes were recorded in Dolby Surround
Dolby Surround
Dolby Surround was the earliest consumer version of Dolby's multichannel analog film sound decoding format Dolby Stereo introduced to the public in 1982 during the time home video recording formats were introducing Stereo and HiFi capability...

 quality and on up to 90 separate sound tracks.

Nominations, awards and prizes

  • Lola, German Oscar, category Best sound (Deutscher Filmpreis
    Deutscher Filmpreis
    The Deutscher Filmpreis is the highest German movie award. From 1951 to 2004 it was awarded by a commission, since 2005 the award has been given by the Deutsche Filmakademie...

    )
  • Golden Gate Award as best documentary (San Francisco International Film Festival
    San Francisco International Film Festival
    San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...

    )
  • Audience award for the best documentary (International Filmweekend Würzburg)
  • ‘Lüdia’, first prize (Cinema Festival in Lünen)
  • Award for "Best Editing” (Diagonale)
  • Best film, category ‘Week of the Critic’(Locarno International Film Festival
    Locarno International Film Festival
    The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...

    )
  • Nominated for European Film Prize (European Film Academy
    European Film Academy
    The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988.- European Film Academy :...

    )
  • Nominated for Austrian Film Prize
  • Rating ‘Highly Recommended’ by The Film Evaluation Committee in Wiesbaden.
  • Honourable Mention (EURODOK film festival, Oslo)

Official selection in international festivals in 2010

  • The Magnificent 7, Serbia
  • Internationales Filmwochenende Würzburg, Germany
  • Göteborg International Film Festival, Sweden
  • Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Berlinale), Germany
  • Jameson Dublin IFF, Ireland
  • Zagrebdox, Croatia
  • Sofia International Film Festival, Bulgaria
  • 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival, China
  • Macau International Film Festival, China
  • BAFICI – Festival International de Cinema Independiente Buenos Aires, Argentinia
  • St. Paul International Film Festival Minneapolis, USA
  • Doc Outlook-Market, Switzerland
  • San Francisco International Festival, USA
  • DOK.Fest München, Germany
  • Planet Doc Review Film Festival, Poland
  • Moscow International Film Festival, Russia
  • Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia
  • New Zealand International Film Festival, New Zealand
  • Semana de Cine Aleman in Cinemateca Nacional Mexico City, Mexico
  • Austrian Cultural Forum in Washington DC, USA
  • Flickers – Rhode Island International Film Festival, USA
  • Jecheon International Music & Film Festival, South Korea
  • Ghent Film Festival, Belgium
  • Berlin & Beyond Festival San Francisco, USA
  • Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan
  • Canberra Film Festival, Australia
  • St. George Brisbane International Film Festival, Australia
  • PIANO-PAM! Internationales Festival für Neue Klaviermusik Uster, Switzerland
  • IDOCS International Documentary Forum Beijing, China


Official selection in international festivals in 2009

  • International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA), Netherlands
  • Max-Ophüls-Preis, Germany
  • Kinofest Lünen, Germany
  • International Hof Film Days, Germany
  • Unerhört Hamburg, Germany
  • Diagonale, Austria
  • Cork Festival, Ireland
  • Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland
  • Zurich Film Festival, Switzerland
  • Valladolid International Film Festival, Spain
  • Sheffield Doc/Fest, Great Britain
  • SoNoRo Bucharest, Romania


Directors biography

  • Lilian Franck studied at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg and at Le Fresnoy, the National Studio of Contemporary Arts in France. In 2002, she received the French-German prize for Young Journalism for the humorous documentary “Half a Chance,” which she co-directed with Robert Cibis. After this collaboration, the pair founded the filmmaking company OVAL Filmemacher in Berlin, Germany. OVAL produces social and scientific documentaries for international broadcasters. OVAL has produced for a wide range of television networks worldwide, and excel at meeting the needs of documentary broadcasters. Topics have included religious fundamentalism (JESUS LOVES YOU), the medicating of children diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder (KIDS ON PILLS), the globalization of labor (HUMAN CAPITAL) and many more. In 2009, Lilian Franck co-directed the award-winning Pianomania
    Pianomania
    Pianomania is a 2009 German-Austrian documentary film by directors Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis. The film presents Stefan Knüpfer, a virtuoso piano tuner, in his work with pianists such as Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel and Pierre-Laurent Aimard....

     which takes the viewer into the secret world of sounds—a place where passion and the pursuit of perfection collide with artistic obsession and a little bit of madness. Pianomania
    Pianomania
    Pianomania is a 2009 German-Austrian documentary film by directors Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis. The film presents Stefan Knüpfer, a virtuoso piano tuner, in his work with pianists such as Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel and Pierre-Laurent Aimard....

     premiered theatrically in more than 20 countries and was awarded, among others, the prize of “Semaine de la critique” at the Locarno International Film Festival
    Locarno International Film Festival
    The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...

    , the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival
    San Francisco International Film Festival
    San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...

     and the German Deutscher Filmpreis
    Deutscher Filmpreis
    The Deutscher Filmpreis is the highest German movie award. From 1951 to 2004 it was awarded by a commission, since 2005 the award has been given by the Deutsche Filmakademie...

     “Lola” for Best Sound.

  • Robert Cibis studied at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, FÉMIS, École Nationale Supérieure des Métiers de l'Image et du Son and Le Sorbonne Nouvelle. In 2002, he received the French-German prize for Young Journalism for the humorous documentary “Half a Chance,” which he co-directed with Lilian Franck. After this collaboration, the pair founded the filmmaking company OVAL Filmemacher in Berlin, Germany. Since, he has produced scientific documentaries for television on the theme of health. PREYING ON PATIENT uncovers how billions of Euros are spent on health in Germany and France. In 2007, Robert Cibis and Michaela Kirst received the Slovenian Festival Prize “EKOTOPFILM” for their project DISGUSTINGLY HEALTHY which uncovered the use of maggots, called maggot therapy
    Maggot therapy
    Maggot therapy is a type of biotherapy involving the intentional introduction of live, disinfected maggots into the non-healing skin and soft tissue wound of a human or animal for the purpose of cleaning out the...

    , in the medical field. OVAL has produced for a wide range of television networks worldwide, and excel at meeting the needs of documentary broadcasters. In 2009, Robert Cibis co-directed the award-winning Pianomania
    Pianomania
    Pianomania is a 2009 German-Austrian documentary film by directors Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis. The film presents Stefan Knüpfer, a virtuoso piano tuner, in his work with pianists such as Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel and Pierre-Laurent Aimard....

     which takes the viewer into the secret world of sounds—a place where passion and the pursuit of perfection collide with artistic obsession and a little bit of madness. Pianomania
    Pianomania
    Pianomania is a 2009 German-Austrian documentary film by directors Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis. The film presents Stefan Knüpfer, a virtuoso piano tuner, in his work with pianists such as Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel and Pierre-Laurent Aimard....

     premiered theatrically in more than 20 countries and was awarded, among others, the prize of “Semaine de la critique” at the Locarno International Film Festival
    Locarno International Film Festival
    The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...

    , the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival
    San Francisco International Film Festival
    San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...

     and the German Deutscher Filmpreis
    Deutscher Filmpreis
    The Deutscher Filmpreis is the highest German movie award. From 1951 to 2004 it was awarded by a commission, since 2005 the award has been given by the Deutsche Filmakademie...

     “Lola” for Best Sound.

Played tracks in the movie and artists

  • Robert Schumann
    Robert Schumann
    Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

     – Fantasie Opus 17 (Lang Lang
    Lang Lang
    Lang Lang may refer to:* Lang Lang , Chinese pianist* Lang Lang, Victoria, a town in Australia* Lang Lang River, a river in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia* A character from the Japanese manga Steam Detectives-See also:...

    )
  • Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

     – Sonate Opus 110 (Alfred Brendel
    Alfred Brendel
    Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.-Biography:...

    )
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

     – Sonate KV 333 (Lang Lang
    Lang Lang
    Lang Lang may refer to:* Lang Lang , Chinese pianist* Lang Lang, Victoria, a town in Australia* Lang Lang River, a river in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia* A character from the Japanese manga Steam Detectives-See also:...

    )
  • Johann Sebastian Bach
    Johann Sebastian Bach
    Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

     – "Kunst der Fuge" (The Art of Fugue
    The Art of Fugue
    The Art of Fugue , BWV 1080, is an incomplete work by Johann Sebastian Bach . It was most likely started at the beginning of the 1740s, if not earlier. The first known surviving version, which contained 12 fugues and 2 canons, was copied by the composer in 1745...

    ), Track Nr.18 (Pierre-Laurent Aimard
    Pierre-Laurent Aimard
    Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a French pianist. He was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio....

    )
  • Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

     – Concert for piano, N° 3, Opus 37 (Till Fellner
    Till Fellner
    - Biography :Pianist Till Fellner was born in Vienna and studied at the Konservatorium der Stadt Wien with Helene Sedo-Stadler, and subsequently with Alfred Brendel, Meira Farkas, Oleg Maisenberg and Claus-Christian Schuster. He won first prize in the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition...

    )
  • Maurice Ravel
    Maurice Ravel
    Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...

     – "Ondine", Gaspard de la nuit
    Gaspard de la nuit
    Gaspard de la nuit: Trois poèmes pour piano d'après Aloysius Bertrand is a piece for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, written in 1908. It has three movements, each based on a poem by Aloysius Bertrand...

     (Till Fellner
    Till Fellner
    - Biography :Pianist Till Fellner was born in Vienna and studied at the Konservatorium der Stadt Wien with Helene Sedo-Stadler, and subsequently with Alfred Brendel, Meira Farkas, Oleg Maisenberg and Claus-Christian Schuster. He won first prize in the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition...

    )
  • Franz Liszt
    Franz Liszt
    Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

     – "Ungarische Rhapsodie" (cf. Hungarian Rhapsodies
    Hungarian Rhapsodies
    Hungarian Rhapsody redirects here. For the 1979 Hungarian film Hungarian Rhapsody . For the 1928 German film Ungarische Rhapsodie.The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R106, is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846-1853, and later in 1882 and 1885...

    ) (Lang Lang
    Lang Lang
    Lang Lang may refer to:* Lang Lang , Chinese pianist* Lang Lang, Victoria, a town in Australia* Lang Lang River, a river in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia* A character from the Japanese manga Steam Detectives-See also:...

    )
  • Frédéric Chopin
    Frédéric Chopin
    Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

     – Prelude Opus 45 (client buying the 109 grand)
  • Robert Schumann
    Robert Schumann
    Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

     – "Dichterliebe
    Dichterliebe
    Dichterliebe, 'The Poet's Love' , is the best-known song cycle of Robert Schumann . The texts for the 16 songs come from the Lyrisches Intermezzo of Heinrich Heine, composed 1822–1823, published as part of the poet's Das Buch der Lieder. Following the song-cycles of Franz Schubert , those of...

    " (Julius Drake
    Julius Drake
    Julius Drake is an English pianist who works as a song recital accompanist and chamber musician.-Biography:Drake was educated at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music; he made his professional debut at the Purcell Room in 1981 and developed a special affinity for the music of Robert...

     – Ian Bostridge
    Ian Bostridge
    Ian Bostridge CBE is an English tenor, well known for his performances as an opera singer and as a song recitalist.-Early life and education:...

    )
  • Johannes Brahms
    Johannes Brahms
    Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

     – „Sommerabend“ (Julius Drake
    Julius Drake
    Julius Drake is an English pianist who works as a song recital accompanist and chamber musician.-Biography:Drake was educated at the Purcell School and the Royal College of Music; he made his professional debut at the Purcell Room in 1981 and developed a special affinity for the music of Robert...

     – Ian Bostridge
    Ian Bostridge
    Ian Bostridge CBE is an English tenor, well known for his performances as an opera singer and as a song recitalist.-Early life and education:...

    )
  • Franz Schubert
    Franz Schubert
    Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...

     – „Impromptus“ Opus 142 nr.1 (Alfred Brendel
    Alfred Brendel
    Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.-Biography:...

    )
  • Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven
    Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

     – „Für Elise“ et alii (Sketch Richard Hyung-ki Joo
    Richard Hyung-ki Joo
    British-Korean pianist, composer, and creator and star of “Igudesman & Joo: A Little Nightmare Music”. Billy Joel chose Joo to arrange and record his classical piano pieces for the album Fantasies & Delusions. It was recorded at the Mozart-Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, and reached the No...

     and Aleksey Igudesman
    Aleksey Igudesman
    Aleksey Igudesman is a Russian violinist, composer, conductor and actor. He performs in the duo Igudesman & Joo.- Biography :Igudesman was born in Leningrad, Russia. At the age of 12 he was accepted at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England...

    )
  • Erik Satie
    Erik Satie
    Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...

     - "gymnopedie" (Richard Hyung-ki Joo
    Richard Hyung-ki Joo
    British-Korean pianist, composer, and creator and star of “Igudesman & Joo: A Little Nightmare Music”. Billy Joel chose Joo to arrange and record his classical piano pieces for the album Fantasies & Delusions. It was recorded at the Mozart-Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, and reached the No...

    )
  • Elliott Carter
    Elliott Carter
    Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...

     - "Cartenaire" (Pierre-Laurent Aimard
    Pierre-Laurent Aimard
    Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a French pianist. He was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio....

    )


External links

  • http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117942705?refcatid=31
  • http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/aug/19/pianomania-review
  • http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/movies/pianomania-by-lilian-franck-and-robert-cibis-review.html
  • http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-pianomania-20111104,0,1947828.story
  • http://documentaries.about.com/od/revie2/fr/Pianomania-Movie-Review-2011.htm
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK