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  • PIANORAMACINEMATIC MUSIC PLAYED BY ROLAND PNTINENBIS-CD-1326

    AMARCORD by FEDERICO FELLINI (Nino Rota) E LA NAVE VA by FEDERICO FELLINI (Rossini/Plenizio & Debussy) VISKNINGAR OCH ROP by INGMAR BERGMAN (Chopin)THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING by PHILIP KAUFMAN (Janek) HSTSONATEN by INGMAR BERGMAN (Chopin) DIVA by JEAN-JACQUES BEINEIX (Cosma) THE PIANIST by ROMAN

    POLANSKI (Chopin) BAGDAD CAF by PERCY ADLON (J.S. Bach) EYES WIDE SHUT by STANLEY KUBRICK (Ligeti) AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS by LOUIS MALLE (Schubert)

    Recorded at Nybrokajen 11, Sockholm. Instrumentarium: Grand piano Steinway D. Produced by Marion Schwebel

  • AMARCORD FEDERICO FELLINIImprovisation in three parts on themes by Nino Rota 9'09I. 2'26II. 2'25III. 4'16

    E LA NAVE VA FEDERICO FELLINIGIOACCHINO ROSSINI / GIANFRANCO PLENIZIO Agnus Dei from Petite messe solenelle 2'34

    VISKNINGAR OCH ROP INGMAR BERGMANFRYDERYK CHOPIN Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4 3'48

    THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING PHILIP KAUFMANLEO`S JAN`CEK from On an Overgrown PathThe Madonna of Frydek 2'36The barn owl has not flown away 3'44

    HSTSONATEN INGMAR BERGMANFRYDERYK CHOPINPrelude, Op. 28 No. 2 2'19

    DIVA JEAN-JACQUES BEINEIXImprovisation on Promenade sentimentale by Vladimir Cosma 5'50

    BAGDAD CAF PERCY ADLONJOHANN SEBASTIAN BACHPreludium No. 1 in C major from Das Wohltemperiertes Klavier I 2'1510

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  • EYES WIDE SHUT STANLEY KUBRICKGYRGY LIGETI Musica Ricercata No. 2 Mesto, rigido e ceremoniale (Schott Musik International, Mainz) 3'31

    STEFAN PNTINEN Cinema music (Manuscript) 4'29

    E LA NAVE VA FEDERICO FELLINICLAUDE DEBUSSY Des pas sur la neige from Prludes, Book I 4'27Clair de lune from Suite bergamasque 5'15

    AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS LOUIS MALLEFRANZ SCHUBERT Moment musical in A flat major, D 780 No. 2 7'06

    THE PIANIST ROMAN POLANSKIFRYDERYK CHOPIN Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. posth. 4'25

    AMARCORD FEDERICO FELLINIRota Reminiscence An improvisation on themes from Amarcord 1'06

    TT: 65'43

    ROLAND PNTINEN piano

    InstrumentariumGrand piano: Steinway D. Piano technician: Carl Wahren

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  • Pianorama a conversation between Roland Pntinen and Nils Petter Sundgren

    NPS: Most connoisseurs of music will known that Roland Pntinen is one ofSwedens foremost concert pianists. But who would have imagined that hewould make a record of film music? In March 2006 I sat with Pntinen anddiscussed the project while we listened to it on the stereo.

    RP: In the world of art music there is much that is commonly held in con-tempt, but I try not to fall into that trap. I have tried my hand at many dif-ferent types of music, for instance playing and composing jazz tunes. At anyrate I do not favour a segregated approach. The important thing is the way themusic is played. And the passion one has for it.

    As for film music, most of this record consists of classical piano pieces thatfilm makers have chosen for their films. An exception is Nino Rotas music inFederico Fellinis films. For me, and for many others, they are inseparable. Is itpossible to imagine La Strada, La Dolce Vita or Amarcord with othermusic than Rotas? He was so close to Fellinis world that he didnt even needto see the films before writing the music. It was enough for Fellini to describethem to him, to give him the mood and the tone.

    Amarcord is one of my absolute favourites. It gives me so much every timeI see it one never tires of it.

    We speak at length about the music for this film, which is generously repre-sented on this record. Amarcord really is a film that can be seen and heardtime and again a constantly surprising, nostalgic look back at Fellinis youthin a small Italian town during the 1930s. The tone is by turns elegiac, melan-

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  • choly and tragic. Pntinen begins his record with three improvisations onRotas music for Amarcord.

    Its marvellous to sit down and improvise on one of Rotas attractive melo-dies. The main theme is truly cinematic and has has something of the char-acter of caf music about it. I present it in several keys, as in the film. I canreally visualize scenes from the film while playing.

    The fast second part is exhilarating and burlesque in a way that is typicalboth of Fellini and of Rota. The third part is inspired by the final scene ofAmarcord: the wedding in the field which, in the film, comes immediatelyafter a heavy winter funeral. Now le manine the downy balls of poplarseeds are flying again: summer is coming. The blind man plays his accor-deon, the camera pans out, the people disappear into the distance and the filmdies away. I have tried to reflect this in the diminuendo in the final bars.

    Another favourite is Beineix cult film Diva, which contains many differenttypes of music. The main theme, together with the aria from Catalanis LaWally, is Vladimir Cosmas Promenade Sentimentale, a piece that RolandPntinen often plays as an encore.

    In the film this is recorded with plenty of reverb. In one of the variations Ihave tried to imitate this echo by means of an ornamented melody.

    Pntinen has given much thought to the use of the piano in specific types ofscene.

    The piano as an instrument might itself symbolize something: in formertimes it was a natural focal point for the home and the bourgeois salon. Forme the piano is also the voice of solitude and liberation. And so the characterof this record became reflective and contemplative.

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  • It is often in scenes of a poetic character that films use piano music. Pianistsare often thought of as lone wolves. We sit at the piano and sink deep withinourselves. We turn inwards, towards the instrument

    Can you give an example of that?

    The Unbearable Lightness of Being, where Philip Kaufman uses chambermusic by Leo`s Jan`cek. Every time Lena Olins character appears, we hear oneof Jan`ceks cello pieces. But Juliette Binoches soulful face is accompanied byhis solo piano music, which gives the scenes an almost sacred character. LenaOlin represents the exhilarated, sensual side, whilst Binoches role is moreethereal.

    We have now left Nino Rota and Amarcord behind, and Pntinen speaks ofother films, and how other directors employ music.

    The great film makers show an incredible innate sensitivity in their choice ofmusic. This applies to masters such as Kurosawa, Kubrick and others. Assome of the music they have used is in my repertoire, I was inspired by the factthat these directors really used the music in its original form. Kubrick was amaster of that. Its difficult to listen to Bartks Music for Strings, Percussionand Celesta without thinking of certain scenes in The Shining. The same istrue of Eyes Wide Shut, where Kubrick chose this astonishingly cold piece byLigeti, built on just three notes.

    Music in a film does not have to be music per se. Pntinen mentions a scenein The Shining where the small boy drives his toy car along a corridor.

    When the car is driving on the carpets it doesnt make any noise, but whenits going over the bare floor in between it suddenly sounds very loud. I

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  • perceive such things as music and rhythm. Of course there are also musicalaspects to the entire construction of a film.

    Sometimes I have discovered a certain type of music through a film. In ASunday in the Country Tavernier used Faurs chamber music, especially fromhis later years. It is cryptic and rather elusive, and suits the film to perfection.It would not be wrong to say that it was through this film that I developed aninterest in Faurs music.

    Pntinen points out that a film can generate more widespread interest in acomposer. Mahler was already experiencing a renaissance in the 1960s but itwas Viscontis Death in Venice that contributed to the great upsurge in thepublics awareness.

    The film Shine and Rachmaninovs Third Piano Concerto is another exam-ple. The public was in fact well acquainted with the style, as through the yearsHollywood composers had borrowed liberally from both Mahler and Rach-maninov.

    Do you ever get irritated by film music?

    I couldnt get on with the music in Jane Campions The Piano. For me it isterribly thin and banal, and somehow lacks substance. It became hugely pop-ular. To me it sounds like muzak. I thought it was a good film in a way, but toa large extent the tinkling on the piano spoilt it for me.

    Despite its title one piece on this disc, Cinema music, is not film music orshould we say not yet?

    My brother Stefan wrote Cinema music many years ago. To my ears itsounds inspired by French music it is Satiesque. Stefan agrees, and thinksthat a French director ought to make a film with his music.

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  • Do you yourself ever fancy writing music for a feature film?

    No, but I have composed and improvised music for a number of shorterfilms. And I also play all of the piano pieces by Schubert, Schumann andothers in Marie Nyrerds three documentaries about Ingmar Bergman. I onlyknow him by reputation, and I know that he has attended some of my con-certs. Bergman was happy with the music for the trilogy. That is a great honour.

    Nils Petter Sundgren is a doyen of Swedish film critics

    The Swedish pianist Roland Pntinen made his dbut in 1981 with the RoyalStockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and has since then performed with majororchestras in