Eroica

First I must clear up one thing. I have been a fanatic of Beethoven's music, life and words for nearly 40 years. I remember receiving a flimsy plastic 45 rpm-shaped record, which was timed at 33-1/3, in the mail advertising his music and the music of others. What I will not forget is hearing those first few bars. I will never ever forget that moment. Two crashing chords and straight into the first melody. It made a profound influence on the course for the rest of my life. I've since become a dilettante composer and enthusiastic champion of the music of this greatest of masters.

With that being said...I was brought into such a state of newfound discovery when I heard the Eroica again on this DVD. The Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique somehow has made an old friend sound brand new again. With the size of the noticeable orchestra being smaller than we are normally accustomed, and with the pronounced accentuation of the individual instruments, the sounds and the development of the themes were fresh.

I enjoyed almost every performance in this film. It doesn't matter whose I didn't like. It really makes no difference. The presence of Ian Hart, Tim Pigott-Smith, Fenella Woolgar, Frank Finlay, Leo Bill, Trevor Cooper, the beautiful Claire Skinner, and mysterious Lucy Akhurst and gosh, even Victoria Shalet and Joseph Morgan made the whole affair quite an enjoyable experience and transformed this into a true ensemble of players.

The effect of the cameras moving about was a stroke of genius. The camera swirled as the thoughts of the people present and listening swirled around the room.

Enough cannot be said about IAN HART who really brought this together. Those of who the character of Beethoven so well should be pleased with his take. Here we have none of the scowling Beethoven smirks which plagued his later years. Here we still have a youthful, but adamant figure struggling to make his way into the world of Viennese society. Hart has cast a Beethoven in his prime though quite immediately after his "Heilegenstadt Testament" period of great sadness. He is young and he still bounce back and get back to the music. One instance of this bouncing back was quite remarkably placed near the end of the movie.

To lovers of Beethoven, lovers of the Eroica, lovers of great music, lovers of historical dramas and fine period pieces, I recommend this film without reservation.

I stumbled across this film being played on television. I figured that the TV guide had misspelled "Erotica", but as it turns out this is very much a G-Rated picture. It's almost a biopic, a bit more than a lengthy music video. It's an afternoon in the life of Ludwig von Beethoven, set to the music of his third symphony.

The events of Beethoven's life seem compressed and shoveled into the 90 minutes of the film. We see how he deals with large issues like Napeoleonic politics, patronage, love, and hearing loss, as well as smaller issues like arranging music and the most efficient means of belittling his assistant.

What I found fascinating was being able to see how the characters of the period responded to the music as it was being played. I have a distant knowledge of Beethoven's works, and while they are certainly powerful and turbulent, I lack the context of the music of the era. Seeing the patrons react to various passages of the music (which to my untrained ear just sounds pretty) and hearing them comment on the work as it progressed was for me highly illuminating.

What a thrill it would be to be able to walk around an orchestra as it plays! That would be the ultimate in surround sound! I was jealous of the characters as they mingled around the players, who from what I can tell were using period-correct instruments.

Eroica is one of Beethovens most misunderstood compositions but this fantastic production depicts the first performance perfectly. Ian Hart plays the genius as he was, scruffy, un-kemt and bad tempered yet passionate about his music and suffering greatly. All the characters were well played, especially Haydn, and the music was sublime. Many of the happenings in the production, such as Reis shouting at the horn then getting told off, were based on true events. Pay close attention to the scene where the composer talks to the countess, when the countess refuses his proposal we can hear the beginning of the scherzo, as if it is being created by the pain Beethoven feels (aso a bit of irony because scherzo means joke in Italian). Wonderfully made and a delight to watch!!!!!!

For some puzzling reason, I never really "got" the Eroica, but thanks to this marvellous production I (and hopefully many others) finally understand not only why the symphony was so important but also why it's so good! The basic idea of the film is that Prince Lobkowitz's orchestra is giving the first performance of the symphony for the prince and princess, the composer, and a few guests. After a shortish buildup to introduce the characters, the orchestra begins - and carries on for most of the film. As the music plays, we watch the characters listening, and occasionally hear their opinions. There is outrage when a trumpet comes in at the "wrong" time; smiles at certain musical turns of phrase; frowns at how loud it is. This superb film marries a great performance of a great work with an intelligent effort to put the whole thing in the context of its time. It isn't a film for people who already know all about the Eroica, but for a viewer who doesn't know Haydn from Howard Shore it must surely be enlightening.

A perfect marriage of music and visuals that is simply superb in every way. My compliments to the well orchestrated direction and precise editing that enabled the music to flow through the emotions of the characters. The performances were well underplayed by minimal dialogue and the perfect facial reactions allowed the viewer to gain an insight into each character's individual feelings to the musical piece. All this aided by the very clever and tight structural screenplay. To top it all of, the photography and free flowing camera movements perfectly captured the raw emotions of this unique musical piece by Master Beethoven. All this in a lavish setting, reminiscent of Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. BRAVO!