Pianomania

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.

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.

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.

A year in the life of Stephan Knüpfer, Steinway's tuner/piano mechanic who services the beautiful Steinway grand pianos in Vienna's concert halls.

The preparation in bringing these magnificent pianos to perfect condition, each one fine-tuned to satisfy the differing whims of the virtuoso who will play it, is astounding to see and hear. It's astonishing that people can have such delicate ears, to be able to hear such tiny changes in tone and colour when minuscule adjustments are made to tuning, hammers and strings.

If you're a music lover you must see this film.

I watched this documentary exactly one week ago at the NZ IFF in Auckland. It's been on my mind ever since! It's a slow paced documentary about a piano tuner working in Vienna with some (very famous?) pianists playing Bach, Mozard, Berlioz etc. One of them is a very perfectionist pianist, but funny at the same time.

As said it is slow paced, but has many funny moments. I never knew tuning a (grand) piano was so complicated, but after watching this docu I really admire his skill, not only technical but his people skill as well.

I recommend seeing this documentary, the theatre was almost sold out when I watched it and everyone there really seemed to enjoy it.

It is mostly in German, but is partly in English as well.