Murray Perahia - Live in Warsaw

Critics put him on a par with Brendel, Gould or Rubinstein. As a young musician he partnered living legends like Rudolf Serkin, Pablo Casals and Benjamin Britten. Vladimir Horowitz was a teacher and a friend. Today Murray Perahia is a legend in his own right. He numbers among the most sought-after pianists of our time, both on the concert platform and in the recording studio. And all this despite the fact that his career has been repeatedly interrupted by the after-effects of an injury to his right hand. This film gives viewers a rare opportunity to look behind the scenes and observe a world-class pianist at work. The camera observes him as he works slowly and thoroughly on some of Chopin’s mazurkas, his E major scherzo and Schumann’s ‘Kinderszenen’ (‘Scenes from Childhood’). The settings include his summer retreat in Switzerland, his terraced house in the West End of London and a private concert for friends. Perahia spends weeks and months exploring the ways in which the various parts of a given work combine to form a whole. Like a skilled psychoanalyst, he uncovers one layer of meaning after another in his single-minded endeavour to fathom the importance of each individual note for the ultimate realisation of a musical masterpiece. ‘As soon as I start working on something, it is with me all the time. I live with the piece – no matter whether I am eating, sleeping, reading a book or talking to my wife – it becomes a part of me.’ Finally, the long-awaited concert in Warsaw. Murray Perahia sits down at the piano and begins to play. The performance transcends all the theory and analysis that have gone into its preparation. The playing itself is the expression of the pianist’s profound insights, resulting in a truly miraculous rendering. After the concert, members of the audience describe it as ‘out of this world. ’