MUSIC DVDs - your favorites

[green]

Watching the greats, who is your favorite and why? Can u suggest for us lay folk what u take from watching them, live or from DVD?

Watching a DVD of Pletnev (Beethoven 4, Abbado, Berlin) and Michelangeli, (Lugano concert), recently, I found it inspiring just to see them sit a the piano, but what they are doing with their hands...well, what do u learn from obseving their technique?

[edouard]

Green,
you might want to check out
Cziffra's DVD mine has a few liszt (gnomenr. and trans.10), some chopin, franck variations etc
infamous Art of Piano DVD, which some people criticize for debatable choice of 'all time best' of 20th century, but then its hard to choose: what are the criteria? be dead? certainly. Be good? yes. Talk with a silly voice? only Evgeny K.  
There is a series on 'Piano de la Nuit' which is the festival de la Rocque d'Anteron filmed in 2002. THe quality is very good in contrast to above Cziffra which is quite poor (how could i forget, Cziffra does the grand galop chromatique of course!)
oh and i have a documentary on Richter. I think it's very good, and i like listening to his Russian.

as to learning from watching it can be tricky. Sometimes watching can give you ideas of fingering. For instance i went to see John Lill play the Grieg Concerto, and i changed a lot of fingerings for the better in the first movement.
As for learning technique watching Richter bang away Tchaik 1 will not improve your octaves. I find it does help though to observe the best pianists, i couldn't really explain why at this point (my brain is fried!!) but i suppose general posture, hand positions, nuances, interpretation. I remember listening to as many interpretations of Reflets dans l'Eau of Debussy as i could before a concert. I heard some cheap version which was ok but nothing more. I heard Pollini which gave me some ideas for the beginning but i did not really like it that much. Then i heard Michelangeli and i thought it was perfect except one bit. So yeah listening, watching, COMMUNICATING is very important for pianists.
oops the post is a bit long
hope this helps,

-ed

[green]

so u recommend the cziffra? EMI DVD right? Had it my hand the other day, i imagined the quality would not be so good, and the pieces he's playing, well, just some greatest hits...is it worth it?

[edouard]

well to tell you the truth i don't watch it that often. But its always nice to come back to, especially his liszt 10th etude and some other pieces. i thought it was worth the buy anyway!
oh and theres also a shitty quality bonus of Wagner or is it Verdi transcription played by a russian dude whose name i just forgot....itll come back to my brain some time:)
e-