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I just Netflixed the movie, "Piano Grand: The 300th birthday year celebration of the piano". Great movie featuring performances and commentary by Billy Joel, Robert Levin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Check out his Debussy Preludes, they're wonderful), Jerry Lee Lewis, Cyrus Chestnut, Dave Brubeck and others...

Check it out if you want to watch something insprining and motivational!

Anyone know of other good piano movies to watch (besides Shine and The Piano) ???

~pianocliff

Bruno Monsaigeon's film 'Richter: The Enigma' is excellent and very inspiring to watch. There is also an excellent general film called 'The Art of Piano' which includes extracts of Myra Hess, Hoffman, Horowitz etc. and makes interesting watching.

I also like 'The Golden Age of Piano' which traces the development of the piano and its great players, although I know David Dubal gets on some people's nerves.

Also try 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould.

In terms of FILMS per se I can heartily recommend 'The Pianist' which traces the fight for survival by a Polish concert pianist in WWII. Its extremely sensitive and includes some lovely playing.

PS 'The Pianist' is beautifully directed by Roman Polanski.

The Piano and The Pianist are my favourites.

I love playing Michael Nyman's pieces from the former, however I don't rememeber exactly what's played in the latter.

Great movie. I like it very much. Have you seen Cziffra, Horowitz (CARMEN), RICHTER (Tchaikovsky).. wonderful. I'm going to watch it right now.

Not a movie movie, but a music video / documentary - Keith Jarrett - The Art of Improvisation. Tracks the career of Jarrett mainly in jazz, but also his forays into classical which were news to me. Did you know that Chick Corea and Jarrett once did Mozart's Double Concerto?

Has extra interviews with the odd contentious statements re jazz vs classical arguments - he's a jazzman afterall.

Groundhog Day was a most inspirational movie for me.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind repeating the same day for awhile until I could play all the pieces that are way too hard for me now...:-)

~pianocliff

I don't know about inspiring, but it was hilarious to watch Tom Ewell, in the Seven Year Itch, fantasize about playing Rachmaninoff's 2nd concerto to impress Marilyn Monroe...and then fumble around with chopsticks when the two finally sit down at the piano.

Mainly Chopin, including the G minor ballade at the end when the German officer finds him and listens to him play.

There is a movie I saw on our local TV many (more than 30)years ago and it was a black and white movie. It was about a great concert pianist
who at the height of his career met with an accident and lost both his hands and had to undergo hands transplant. After the hand transplant, he started to relearn to play the piano, became frustrated and .. ?gone crazy (can't remember).Anyone old enough to remember this movie?

Just to further the last post, the complete list of pieces actually played in the movie are:

Chopin - Nocturne 20 in C#min (post.). Played twice (start and end)
Chopin - Ballade 1 in Gmin, as mentioned, played to officer
Chopin - Grande Polonaise Brillianate op.22, played during credits
Henryk Wars - Umowilem sie z Nia na dziewiata, played in the ghetto restaurant

Other good pieces are heard in the movie - Moonlight Sonata, Cello Suite No.1, but these are the pieces that are actually seen to be played.

Euan.

The Hands of Orlac
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054963/

The Legend of 1900 is a must-see! It's created by the same team that did the Italian award-winning Cinema Paradiso: directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and music by Ennio Morricone. The movie's in English, but I love the longer title of the movie: La Leggenda del pianista sull'ocean or The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean. The piano duel between the two pianists (one of whom is Jelly Roll Morton) is a scene I love playing over and over, and so is the one where the grand piano glides and spins around a ballroom. Magical!

The Legend of 1900 is in a class by itself. The piano duel will make you sweat. In the (loosely )biographical genre where are four Chopin movies readily available out there. The Youth of Chopin is a Polish movie made in the late forties/early fifties. It is a bit of a Soviet propaganda piece and is remarkable for all these men in their 30's playing the teenaged Chopin and his friends. It does have it moments. There's the strangely titled "A Song to Remember" which as a terminally robust Cornel Wilde playing Chopin and Merle Oberon as George Sand from heck. It's a hoot but Paul Muni is great as the kindly music professor. There's the companion piece about Lizst, same era, same director, same problems, called "Song Without End." There's a 1980's comedy called Impromptu that has Hugh Grant playing Chopin , Judy Davis as George, Julian Sands playing Liszt and Bernadette Peters stealing the show as Marie Agout. It's witty, inaccurate and fun. There's the more serious, less inaccurate, Chopin Desire for Love, another Polish movie, just a couple of years old. The young actor playing him really looks quite a bit like Chopin (if he'd been a bit healthier) and it's beautifully photographed.

I rented Alfred Brendel In Portrait from Netflix and absolutely loved it. It's very inspirational. I particularly like the Schubert impromptu at the end. They have Brendel alone on a stage with a S&S D, the sound is great and the close-ups are really cool. You can see the band aids on his fingertips.
I also rented The Beat That My Heart Skipped which is also pretty interesting. This is a French movie, so be aware, there are subtitles if you don't like that sort of thing.
One more not really piano based, but interesting musically is the Songcatcher. This has some adult themes and is not for kids.
My favorite piano movie is the Pianist. Great music, great acting, great direction, heart renching subject.
Jon

Some of the most beutifull piano pieces come from some very non-traditional movie sources.

The score that comes to mind is the main piano theme from a western called the "legends of the fall" Their is another nice piano piece in that movie called "twilight and mist".

Although not "piano -movies" per say, both those songs are some of the nicest songs I have ever heard.

This also gives me another excuse to post a recording of them!, however, I lost one of the songs sheet music to a vacuum cleaner accident!, I'll have to try and restore it first.

The Pianist is a certain choice as it affirms the life sustaining qualities of music and the making of music.

On a different theme, but of interest to adult beginners, in the HBO movie "Dinner with Friends." It came out around 2001 and stars Dennis Quaid and Andie MacDowell. The storyline is about the effect on the marriage of a couple when their best friends get divorced. From a piano perspective, Dennis Quaid is an adult beginner throughout the movie, and you hear his improvement as the movie goes on.

Nobody (including me) mentioned Immortal Beloved. The thread on Beethoven's hair reminded me. That's a nice, well photographed, musically lush, very speculative movie about Beethoven's love life. Gary Oldman plays Beethoven and Isabella Rosselini (sp?) plays the love interest. IMHO Gary Oldman makes a much better Beethoven than Dracula.

Also there's the Mephisto Waltz, starring Alan Alda as a concert pianist, who (you guessed it) makes a deal with the devil.

How funny!! I also experienced a twang of regret when he was able to repeat his day for what must have been years to suddenly impress her (on the tip of my tongue but can't remember) so well.

The most inspirational movie for me has to be 'Amadeus' (a mad god). It literally gave me a burning feeling in my chest for Mozart when I left the movie theater, something that has never happened before or after. I was extremly disappointed later watching Immortal Beloved because it gave you 2-3 bars of his music then 15 minutes of his rage. Disgustingly inadequate and misleading (he wasn't ****ed off his entire life, for god's sake!)

Also, Glenn Gould's DVD discussing then playing the Goldberg Variations is great.

I watched Piano Grand last night. I was absolutely blown away by Toshiko Akiyoshi's performance of "It Was A Very Good Year". I dream of being able to play like that. The ending when they all played Heart and Soul brought tears to my eyes.

Wow! Very inspiring.

After reading this thread, I tried to get "the Legend of 1900" from the library but it had a long waiting list? Do a lot of forum readers frequent my library? I then found it on Amazon.com in a 2-pack with another movie for $5.47. This was a great movie-I really enjoyed it.

But I also bought "Fingers" and was very disappointed. The violence in it far overrode any enjoyment from the music. In fact, I really have no memory of the music, just his nervous mannerisms and the brutality. I have trouble sleeping after watching things like this. Is the "Beat That My Heart Skipped" as bad?

I also felt somewhat inspired by Groundhog day, I watch that part about the piano over and over. The actess he was trying to impress was Andie Macdowell.

Although not a piano movie, try Lush Life with Jeff Goldblume. The early part about what it is like to be a professional musician is really great. Although Jeff is a sax player in the movie, in real life he is a jazz pianist. So is the first ADA on Law and Order, Michael Moriarty. Michael has played in clubs in Manhattan.

"Rhapsody" is a great old movie from the early 1950s, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Vittorio Gassman as a violinist, and John Ericson as a pianist. Silly melodrmatic plot, but Taylor's at her most beautiful and the music (played by Claudio Arrau and Michael Rabin) is terrific. I remember one sequence with Ericson practicing the Weber "Moto Perpetuo" with metronome. First very slow, than faster and faster until it's at a wicked fast tempo.

Clint Eastwood made a very good documentary film called Piano Blues, which has Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck, Pinetop Perkins among others all playing and talking about their particular style of playing and influences. Eastwood himself gets to play a little too.
Worth looking out for.

Michael

Being a huge Ray Charles fan, I still like "Ray" better than most other films that involve piano playing..there was a film with Amy Irving and Richard Dreyfus called "The Competition" years back...

While not specifically about the piano, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" is a very enlightening movie, as is "Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll" - it's about Chuck Berry, but has several scenes with Jonnie Johnson - watching it, you realize just how much Chuck ripped off from Johnnie's playing style - that, and watching Chuck Berry and Keith Richards almost come to blows, is priceless.

BTW, Clint Eastwood has some decent chops as a jazz pianist....

This thread has finally inspired me to research an old movie I saw on TV many years ago about a female pianist and the plot revolved around her learning the Rachmaninoff Concerto no. 2 for her debut performance. Thanks to IMDB I found the movie, called I've Always Loved You, from 1946. Here's the IMDB link that gives the plot. I hadn't realized that Rubinstein did the behind the scenes playing!

I\'ve Always Loved You

Has anyone on the forum purchased any of the Van
Cliburn competition documentaries or competition dvds?

TC

Agilita, the "Beat That My Heart Skipped" does have some violence in it. But that is only a small part of the movie.
Jon

I know this thread has been long-dormant, but in case people happen upon it looking for piano films, I've seen "They Came to Play" about the Van Cliburn on NetFlix- I'd highly recommend it! A really cool documentary to see "amateurs" (perhaps "non-professionals" is a better term?) perform in competition. Watch it if you get the chance!

I have DVDs of "Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037" and "Copying Beethoven". The Steinway documentary is great, as well. It's fascinating to see the inner workings of the NY factory and the people who bring them to life.

Copying Beethoven has quite a bit of artistic license and isn't so historically accurate but I prefer it to Immortal Beloved, honestly. It has its moments.

Song without end - the story of Liszt starring Dirk Bogarde

A movie about Chopin starring Cornel Wilde, and Paul MuNi, the name escapes me.

Rhapsody - starring Liz Taylor and John Exrickson as the pianist she marries although most of the movie is about a violinist (vittorio Gasman).

Although not about the piano, bit the Benny Goodman story with Steve Allen.

The Fabulous Baker Boys

The Eddy Duchin Story

Watch Richard Gere play during Pretty Woman

The Competition about a piano competition with Richard Dryfus and Amy Irving.

Amadeus

There wAs a very good TV movie with Cybal Sheppard who has an autistic son who is a piano prodigy.

By the way, the finest piano novel I have ever read is Body and Soul by Frank Conroy. This is the most piano inspiring book I have ever read. I have actually read it about seven times and it is just as inspiring on each read.

If you have not seen The Pianist, you must see it NOW.

It is an amazing movie that captures the very real struggle of a Jewish pianist in WWII. Chopin is a common theme in the movie and the ending piece is amazing.

If you like epic (classical) music and epic movies, this movie is for you.

Go to Wikipedia and type in movies about piano players and you will find a great list.

I just watched The Piano Teacher (La pianiste), it's a 2001 movie with Isabelle Huppert, a French actress I love. It is a rather morbid, unpleasant story but there is plenty of piano playing. Huppert actually plays the piano herself, no stand-ins.

I started playing after seeing that movie almost two years ago. The Chopin pieces featured in the movie were among the first ones I learned. Definitely watch it NOW if you haven't seen it!

Maybe this is not a movie, but still, extremely inspiring...and funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z4jwEn9saU

The Piano, 1993, music written by Michael Nyman. The story is about a mute woman who uses the piano to be her voice and expressing her feelings. When her piano was sold by her new husband, she was offered a way to earn it back. Like many of us who posted in the forum about being obsessed with piano, it was her everything. The actress was Holly Hunter who performed a convincing role as she actually learned the piano pieces.

Holly Hunter could play piano before the film was made, and from what I've read, some of the music was actually written to match her skill level! Isn't that neat?

I love the film the Pianist - Adrian Brody learned to play some Chopin for that film. He must be brilliant. I first saw it before I started playing, and then have watched it again recently.... wonderful film, though tragic...wonderful music.

I saw Shine and the Legend of 1900 after I started playing piano, and so I think I looked at them differently.
I enjoyed the Legend of 1900 even though it was a bit far fetched, it was good fun. Shine was interesting too, on many levels, funny sometimes, bittersweet at others.