Pianoforte, on VOD

As tournaments go, the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw is arguably more physically and emotionally demanding than many Olympic events. In many cases, the young pianists probably have more talent. Jakub Piatek follows several young competitors performing under extreme pressure in the documentary Pianoforte, which releases tomorrow on VOD.

As the name suggests, there will be a lot of Chopin played during the multi-stage quinquennial competition. Polish competitor Marcin Wieczorek jokes that winners tend to look like the composer. If he is right, the Italian/Slovenian Alexander Gadjiev should be a favorite for the 2021 edition, which he probably is.

Gadjiev is also on friendly terms with fellow Italians Leonora Armellini and Michelle Candotti. Having a network to gripe and commiserate together seems to be an advantage for them. In contrast, Russian/Armenian Eva Gevorgyan appears to have the largest and most professional coaching contingent, but given their severity, they might be a mixed blessing for the seventeen-year-old, for whom anything less than victory will clearly be a disappointment.

At the end of the film, the closing captions inform us Gevorgyan has almost exclusively performed in Russian since the 2021 Chopin competition, because of Putin’s illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Arguably, the resulting damage to her young career makes her another victim of Putin’s lawlessness. Viewers will feel sympathy for her, but they will still root against her, hoping to see her nasty coaches lose.

Pianoforte is observational to a fault. There are no sit-down interviews or voice-over context. Piatek just lets us watch it all unfold, trusting viewers to pick up what we need as it proceeds. It mostly works.

The documentary also invites us to think about how we relate to music. One competitor bemoans how his rivals play like well-drilled “Marines” who never miss a note. Gevorgyan would be that type of player. Yet, pianists like Gadjiev, Armellini, and Candotti, who bring more “personality” to their playing end up doing quite well, making cut after cut. For us jazz listeners, we want to hear that personality in their playing. Maybe classical connoisseurs do too, but they do not explicitly verbalize it.

It is always encouraging to see young musicians who are passionate about their music. Pianoforte is a nice film, but the quiet fly-on-the-wall approach somewhat waters down the inherent drama. Recommended for patrons of classical music, Pianoforte releases tomorrow (1/9) on VOD.