Pianomania

I'm a classically-trained pianist and composer, so behind-the-scenes movies like this have a lot of appeal for me. I respect the piano technicians, such as the film's protagonist Stephan Knüpfer, who know how to coax the right sound from an amazingly complicated instrument. This documentary is a tribute to his skill, and especially his patience, as he deals with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, an ultra-demanding control freak who will just about drive you insane as you watch.

Aimard's attempts to get Knüpfer to recreate the many piano tones he has in his head forms the main plot thread of this documentary. In between grueling sessions of watching Aimard complain about the shape of a particular note's tone, the documentarians have inserted scenic pictures of Vienna, and clips of other, less annoying pianists, including two comedians who provide much-needed relief for the Aimard-induced tension.

There are some lovely shots of the interior mechanism of the piano, as well as behind-the-scenes looks at Vienna's concert hall. But overall, I found this film tedious due to Aimard's perfectionistic attitude. Would anyone else put up with it? Knüpfer seems to relish it somehow, because it presents him with a technical challenge. The film rambles on, cutting back and forth to the main story for no apparent reason, and be warned: 90% of it is in German with subtitles.

Definitely for the piano lover only.

This movie follows Steinway Piano Tuner Stefan Knüpfer around the various assignments of his work. The movie underlines the point that a piano is a complicated, tricky instrument with multiple facettes in the sound that only the skilled tuner can reveal. Mr. Knüpfer is the central funny point in this movie, him being a positive person delighted by his craft, and he is fully apt at conveying this love of his work on screen. My only grudge with this movie is that it focuses at length on the people that play the piano, where I would have expected to see him work, eg. tune the piano. The end credits of the film use many of those image sequences I would really love to see in the main movie.

This is an Austrian documentary about a tuner and technician for Steinway pianos played at major classical music concerts and recording events. The box cover suggested that this person was actually more fussy about his pianos than his clients were, but in fact it is the other way around.

Most of the film centers on a French pianist and composer and how fussy he is about how his pianos sound and how he insists on other pianos because one doesn't sound right to him, and the technician has not only to tune the piano but find people the right stools, add crazy-looking devices to the pianos to change its sound, change components of the piano to satisfy the various players, and go through a lot of aggravation.

Problem is, that's the movie in a nutshell, and it gets repetitive and boring without telling much else. Also included is a scene of preparing a piano for a comedy act, which was amusing, but overall the movie takes too much time to say too little.

There have been great documentaries about Steinway. And great concerto registrations of many a keyboard giants. And this should have been a documentary about a great piano tuner. Stefan Knüpfer is a great piano tuner. Steinway is the grandfather of grand pianos. Lang and Brendel and Aimard are great musicians.For any music lover this should have been a shoo-in, njet? Alas, no. Tuners, instruments and players move in the mysterious (concert) halls of sounds. If they're good you can hear it. But the addition of images (and edit the whole in a coherent manner) is entirely up to the documentary maker.

It says something when the most exciting parts of this documentary are the transport and setting up of those grand behemoths, and seeing Knüpfer at work. But the endless talks and takes about sound and its interpretation are only interesting for the first or second time. And as Knöpfer himself is a rather self-effacing guy, you're not drawn into his world as with people like Glen Gould or Leonard Bernstein (the "making" of the Goldberg Variations, or the "making of Westside Story).

A good documentary maker should have seen this coming, otherwise "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing."

Stefan Knüpfer is a piano tuner who works for Steinway (very popular manufacturer). He spends a great deal of time working with pianists making sure that the pianos they play on sound just right before performances. Pianomania masterfully shows us the tension between Stefan and Pierre- Laurent Aimard, a renown French pianist, who seemingly can never be satisfied. We are given a look into the complex requests Knüpfer must take on as he tries to understand the needs of performers and their instruments.

Piano tuners are a rare breed of person, of which Stefan is no exception. This fragile-looking man with rounded glasses who lives a stress-filled life of running from one performance hall to the next on a daily basis. He is the perfect example of someone who works behind the scenes, often going unnoticed, never recognized for the importance of his work to the performances viewed by many.

"...it (piano) has to be continuously remixed so that what is produced right there, the quality of the sound conforms with what the artist imagines. That is the difficulty that needs to be constantly addressed."

The film is much like an episode of "Worlds Toughest Jobs". As Stefan mentions, it is trying to create a sound from the piano that is exactly like the sound that these performers have in their minds. Taking something that is obscure or intangible and turning this into reality. I found the language barrier to be fascinating considering the performers he works with come from all walks of land. It is almost comic how this adds to the already daunting task of interpreting what is being asked of him.

Pianomania is a perfect example of why I continue to watch documentaries. They not only offer a voice to those who have none, but can also provide a view into the world of those who may not care for one. That Stefan finds beauty in everything about his job makes this all the more beautiful to watch.