A valentine to the rock star of classical music

The straight story can be told in many octaves. Many minds, literati and artisan, chime in on music’s titan among titans. Composers, conductors, concert musicians, and historians deliver intimate interpretations of a genius whose muted mortality was no match for his talent—a talent he himself characterized as “heaven’s most precious gift.” In Search of Beethoven is a visual biography that employs scores of live performances reimagining the master’s infinite range—from raging to ethereal. The film, like the Flemish artist’s vast oeuvre, aims to strike an apotheosis by chronologically reciting Ludwig van Beethoven’s remarkable flight and plight. The clever movements should entreat a cultured base, like those who still read daily broadsheets and listen to classical records. The MP3 crowd won’t break their Urban Outfitters shopping spree for this affair but may catch glimpses once it jumps from big screen to small.

Afflicted with many physical ailments, Beethoven, the classical rock star who followed Mozart and his teacher Haydn’s footsteps to Vienna, was riddled with financial and female woes. He never married despite what appear to be many crushes, his purse was only moderately filled because manuscript royalties were sold as one-offs and he couldn’t tour because he was sick so often.

Despite his reputation as a harsh hermit, the letters he penned reveal a wounded heart, and his piano concertos and string quartets exude unadulterated beauty, grace and fragility. These pieces are treated like scriptures for the musicians and aficionados dedicating their lives to cracking them. Concert pianist Emmanuel Ax admits some of the virtuosic measure are impossible to play and says Beethoven “was less concerned with human beings in the flesh and more concerned with humanity as an ideal.” It was with this that his work lasted longer than the so-called masters of the Baroque period before him. Roger Norrington, a conductor, believes that Beethoven was thinking on a grander stage when comparing him to Mozart. “Mozart was writing for Saturday. Beethoven was beginning to write for eternity. That was one of the conversations he had with his Creator. He wanted to be a great composer, I think.”

The opuses are performed in rich and buttery manners and played as we see paintings, illustrations and composites of the epoch. The narration is quite unobtrusive and touches on elements succinctly, thus letting the thinkers, doers and instruments carry the doc’s tune. Letters are orally recited and in the message you gather that Beethoven was a wounded soul but also determined to make his mark with impunity. To one muse named Josephine he wrote: “You have conquered me. I love you as clearly as you do not love me.” He would write a sonata in her honor (as he did with many women) when smitten. At other times he was wallowing in the depths of despair. “I have dragged on this miserable existence.” But there’s also some sardonic wit from the key master when recounting tension with the help: “My servant has been quite difficult since I threw those books at her head.”

The film permits Beethoven’s story to unfold without too much tinkering. Any stylizing or seasoning would ruin it. And director Phil Grabsky is well aware of this, having made a sister film about Mozart before. The intention, one must believe, is to go deeper into the bowels and cerebellum of this creator who fought deafness and so many other maladies both physical and spiritual, but managed to leave the world an unrivaled legacy. Beethoven’s canon is an eternally living, breathing organism charming and wounding billions and billions in just a couple of strokes.

Distributor: Seventh Art Productions

Directed/Produced: Phil Grabsky
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Unrated

Running time: 139 min.

Release date: July 10 CHI, September 23 NY