Wow! Such a good movie.

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Pianomania is an Austrian documentary about Stephan Knupfer. Knupfer, a tuner for Steinway caters to the demands of the best pianists on the planet. Throughout this documentary, there are numerous dialogues between Knupfer and famous pianists such as Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel and Pierre-Laurent Aimard discussing the color, tone, attack and release of notes on the piano. It is truly fascinating to hear how the character of the piano's tone can be altered so carefully and artistically. Knupfer's work in the documentary is described as almost neurotic. His drive for perfection takes him to work in the greatest concert halls in existence. The documentary gives a sneak peak into behind the scenes of the tedious work that goes into recording sessions of major classical works. To capture the sounds of these acoustic instruments as well as possible for the film, Dolby Surround quality is utilized which enables the viewer to get a somewhat true sense of what the performances would have sounded like live. I would highly recommend this documentary to those who are avid classical music listeners and for those who are novice. This film truly portrays the obsessiveness of not only the performers but also of the technical artists that make classical music available to the masses through recordings and live performances. Magic and human intellect combined!

The technician and pianists studied up close in Pianomania, a 2009 Austrian documentary, are searching for the perfect sound. They always get close, but I am not sure any of them well confess to ever actually hearing it. Stefan Knupfer is Steinway & Sons master technician based out of Vienna. He works at the Vienna concert house tuning, re-tuning, breaking apart and re-constructing grand pianos. Working closely with the most famous and skilled pianists in the world including Lang Lang and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, they have intense discussions concerning tone, flavor, color, air, etc… It turns out that grand pianos each have their own respective flavor, shape, and feeling. Is the sound round or too round? Is it full, thick, thin, light, or heavy? In Pianomania, Stefan describes the piano as the perfect music machine. Its full volume can reach 4000 in a single hall. Conversely, another technician raises the question of just how much of a musical instrument it really is. It takes three people just to move it around and if you draw on a particular string you will slice your hand open.Pierre-Laurent Aimard will record Bach concertos in one year at the concert hall. A full year before these recordings, Stefan is already hard at work on it. He travels to Hamburg to painstakingly select the back-up piano in case the first one is not to Pierre's liking. He goes over to the Hofburg to consult harpsichord and clavichord experts because he feels he must know their sounds better. He almost self destructs when new hammerheads arrive (the parts which hit the piano strings) and they are 0.7mm too skinny, a fact he can tell just by looking at them.Throughout the year, Stefan works hand-in-hand with all of these accomplished solo pianists to find the sound they are so desperately trying to describe. Tension frequently arises when they either cannot understand one another or when a piano sounds amazing to one person but like garbage to another. Well into the film, it is not odd to hear phrases such as "the tone is fine, it is what is in the tone which sounds off." Listening to the musicians play after they have finally decided the piano is ready is a real pleasure. There are extended sequences devoted to them. The camera work veers off every now and then though to try and match the sounds such as filming clouds reflecting on water or blurry neon lights. Those shots do not work very well but they are few and far between. Also, once the Bach recordings begin a year later, they can become quite tedious as you will see microphones adjusted and re-adjusted and Stefan running up and down the stairs repeatedly between the stage and the recording booth. This conveys exactly what it is supposed to, that recording major works of classical music is extremely challenging, but it also not very amusing for the audience either.I recommend Pianomania to those who appreciate classical music and would like to peek behind the curtain a bit. Beware to those of you who do not seem interested by these descriptions, you will probably be bored.

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.