In Search of Beethoven2 min read
Reading Time: 3 minutes2009 | Documentary | UK | English | 139 min | $10
Director: Phil Grabsky
Premieres 31st March 2010 at Sinema Old School
Award-winning filmmaker Phil Grabsky and Seventh Art Productions, the makers of 2006’s arthouse hit In Search of Mozart, are back in cinemas with a new feature-length biographical film about the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, In Search of Beethoven.
As with the Mozart film, In Search of Beethoven takes a comprehensive look at the composer’s life through historical research and Beethoven’s biography and letters, but with the emphasis always on the performance ““ and interpretation ““ of Beethoven’s music.
From his early piano concertos through the “Moonlight Sonata”, “Für Elise”, and the immortal notes of the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, Beethoven’s music remains as beloved, popular, and relevant as any work of art has ever been.
In Search of Beethoven brings together the world’s leading performers and experts on Beethoven to reveal new insights into this celebrated composer. The lineup of performers and interviewees includes Jonathan Biss, Louis Langrée, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Roger Norrington, Riccardo Chailly, Claudio Abbado, Fabio Luisi, Frans Brüggen, Ronald Brautigam, Hélène Grimaud, Vadim Repin, Janine Jansen, Paul Lewis, Lars Vogt, and Emanuel Ax, among others.
The film is narrated by Juliet Stevenson and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s David Dawson.
A passionate portrait of a romantic soul and a magnificent voyage through some of the greatest music ever created, In Search of Beethoven is a film for music lovers and cineastes alike.
About the Director:
Phil Grabsky is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. With a career spanning 20 years, Phil and his company Seventh Art Productions make films for cinema and television.
Phil’s cinema films include The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan, which has played worldwide and, to date, has won thirteen awards, including first prize at Valladolid International Film Festival, and the Gold Hugo in Chicago for Best Film, Best Cinematography and Best Editing. Phil is continuing to film in Afghanistan.
In early 2006 Phil completed the first ever feature-length documentary on the life of Mozart, In Search of Mozart, which contains performances and interviews with dozens of today’s finest performers. It premiered to over 1000 people at London’s Barbican concert hall, and has now been broadcast on over twenty channels across the world, as well as gaining cinema distribution.
Phil recently completed cinema/TV documentary Escape from Luanda which was shown throughout 2008 and is currently releasing “˜In Search of Beethoven’ in cinemas across the world. He is also continuing to follow Mir from “˜The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan’; until he turns 18 in his new feature documentary, “˜The Boy Mir’; due for completion in 2011.
