Search - The Cliburn - Playing on the Edge on DVD

Concerto performances 5 stars, documentary not as great

odalys90 | So San Francisco, CA United States | 09/29/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The PBS broadcast of the 1997 Van Cliburn Competition was a superior documentary than the one found on the current DVD. The 1997 had more in-depth and more intriguing interviews with competitors than the 2001 one. Not all the 2001 interviews are bad, but a couple of the competitors come off with rather uninteresting personalities (and one pianist's negative attitude really was uncalled for)and too much time is spent on them, while not enough screen time is given to some of the pianists that really interested me. Also, the musical excerpts in the documentary are far too few; brevity of the excerpts is understandable, but what worked quite well in the 1997 documentary was a montage of musical excerpts.
As for the Ioudenitch and Kern concerto performances, these alone were worth the price of the DVD. It's true that both pianists make a lot of facial gestures that could be distracting to the listener watching them, but their performances are worthy of the gold medals they received. These concertos played by these two performers are not available except on DVD (at the time of writing). And Kern delivers a far more interesting Rachmaninov 3rd than Jon Nakamatsu did in 1997."

EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCES AND DOCUMENTARY

P | Salt Lake City, UT | 04/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"THIS DVD IS GREAT. IT GIVES A GOOD LOOK INTO THE LIVES OF THE CONTESTANTS DURING THE VAN CLIBURN PIANO COMPETITION. THE BONUS FEATURE PERFORMANCES ARE EXQUISITE. OLGA KERN IS MAGNIFICENT WITH RACHMANINOFF'S 3RD PIANO CONCERTO AND STANISLAV IOUDENICH IS GREAT WITH TCHAIKOVSKY'S 1ST PIANO CONCERTO."

One of my favorite DVDs

Raymond J McArthur | 02/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a two-sided DVD, with interviews and performance excerpts of the 11th Van Cliburn finalists as they proceed to the finish on side one. The artists were brilliant; it seems impossible to pick the "best". The judges made an unprecedented decision to choose two Gold Medalists, Olga Kern from Russia, and Stanislav Ioudenitch from Uzbekistan.Side two contains complete performances of the first Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto, and the third Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto, by the two Gold Medalists. Side two alone is worth the price.Strangely, the disc does not offer chapter selections."

Outstanding piano competition

Mary Cassatt | 05/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am a pianist (non professional) and feel well qualified to comment on this DVD. I have followed the Cliburn for years and find this tape absoutely excellent. One has a chance to get to "know" the lead competitors, the life of a competitor both away from the competition and during it, the feelings of tension and excitement, and excellent coverage of the music, which is itself most rewarding. I have seen other Cliburn tapes, and this one is superior. The best yet. The viewer is drawn into the procedings and develops feelings for the various performers. I would recommend "The Cliburn" to anyone with an interest in music, not at all necessarily just an interest in the piano."