Tovenaarsleerlingen

In the future, young Christiaan will be a great pianist. First, however, he will have to listen to music and practice hard for quite many years to come. In this documentary, we see how he receives a master class from celebrated pianist Menahem Pressler, which makes clear how the learning process evolves. Pressler, an impressive man, first compliments Christiaan on his elegant appearance, but then proceeds to give his unvarnished opinion of his playing. Pressler turns out to be very precise and rather strict, but this is exactly what Christiaan needs: his sense of rhythm is not quite adequate yet, and he plays fortissimo when he should play forte. To laymen, these may be details, but for the true pianist they are a crying shame. Christiaan appears to be a quick learner though, and grows in stature with every note he gets right. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)