In February 1977, Murray Perahia made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker with Mozart’s C minor piano concerto, conducted by Riccardo Muti. “A first-class soloist was introduced to us, with fantastic musicianship and a highly sensitive touch,” as the press wrote. Many wonderful performances with the Berliner Philharmoniker were to follow. And so it was only logical that the orchestra invited him, as Pianist in Residence, to give a series of joint concerts this current season. In this documentary by Holger Preusse and Claus Wischmann, you can now get to know this exceptional artist better. 

Perahia’s now legendary status means that he is often regarded as someone who is somewhat removed from normal life – which corresponds to the title of the documentary “Not of this world”. But it is only Perahia’s playing, with its otherworldly beauty, that seems to be beyond all earthly limitations. As this film shows, the artist engages in all facets of life as well as his work. In interviews on tour and in his Swiss vacation home, he talks about the works in his repertoire, and how he develops his interpretations. We experience him as an inspirational teacher, at work in the recording studio and, of course, at rehearsals and in concert. Perahia also discusses the injury to his hand, which has repeatedly forced to stop playing for periods of time – a terrible experience for a pianist. But Perahia has even come to terms with this difficult situation and has reached some surprising insights: “What seemed like a curse actually turned into a blessing, because it gave me a lot of time to think about music and to listen to it more. And so I felt I was actually growing as a musician, even though I was not playing.”

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Andreas Neubronner, Stephen Orton, Ninette Perahia, Kenneth Sillito

Written and directed by Holger Preusse and Claus Wischmann
Camera: Fariba Nilchian, Svea Andersson, Michael Dreyer, Connie Goos, Oliver Gurr, Dragomir Radosavljevic
Video engineer: Zora Butke
Sound: Nils Kirchhoff, Christoph Franke, Anke Möller
Edited by Thomas Wellmann
Sound mixer: Cornelius Rapp
Producers: Jost Bösenberg, Stefan Pannen
TV Producers: Dorothea Diekmann, Søren Schumann, Eva Wochner

A production of Sounding Images and DOKfilm Fernsehproduktion for RBB in conjunction with Arte

© 2011 RBB, Sounding Images, DOKfilm Fernsehproduktion