Inspired by Poland’s Olympics debut in 1924, the International Chopin Piano Competition started in 1925, returning every five-years, (October 2025 will be its centennial.) This documentary (dir. Jakub Piatek) follows six contestants in 2020 thru the four increasingly selective/nerve-wracking stages. First Stage: Chopin Etudes. Yikes! Some of the toughest pieces ever written. Then climaxing days later with one of the two piano concertos Chopin wrote when barely out of his teens. Dozens of these fly-on-the-wall classical music documentaries out there. (Or streaming: daily posts or full coverage like the Van Cliburn.) What sets these competitions apart, aside from the prizes, is who came out of them. The Chopin boasts Krystian Zimerman, Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini. And what sets this film apart is that it’s less fingers; more head, heart & backstory. Actual stage action limited. Advantages: We get to know the chosen six as people. Disadvantages: Hard to judge from snippets; other than differences in articulation. We end up rooting on looks and personality . . . which would be fine if it was their musical personality. Showing at its worst with seamless intercut playing of the same piece, like passing the baton in a relay race. But at least there, you’ve got a stop watch keeping score. Pianist Stephen Kovacevich (once married to Argerich) dismissed a lot competition playing as ‘typing.’ Accurate, but little else.
DOUBLE-BILL: Hollywood tried dramatizing one of these in THE COMPETITION/’80 (not seen here) with oldest contestant Richard Dreyfuss falling for Amy irving, one of the youngest. Apparently Sam Wanamaker does a wicked Leonard Bernstein as jurist/conductor which does sound tempting. Seen it? Thoughts? Leave a Comment.
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