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In Search of Beethoven
Directed by
Phil Grabsky
Not Rated
2009
2h 19m
Documentary
,
Biography
,
and more
7.5
93%
80%
Add to Watchlist
The first truly comprehensive feature length cinema documentary ever made about Beethoven. With over 60 live performances.
More
Where to Watch In Search of Beethoven
Pluto TV
Free
Tubi TV
Free
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Subscription
Amazon Video
Rent $1.99
Cast of In Search of Beethoven
Leif Ove Andsnes
Self
Emanuel Ax
Self
Kristian Bezuidenhout
Self
Giovanni Bietti
Self
Jonathan Biss
Self
Ronald Brautigam
Self
Riccardo Chailly
Self
Barry Cooper
Self
Jonathan Del Mar
Self
Albert Dohmen
Self
Cliff Eisen
Self
Alban Gerhardt
Self
Hélène Grimaud
Self
Janine Jansen
Self
Hebe Jeffrey
Self
Christine Köndgen
Self
Chris Kraus
Self
Louis Langrée
Self
Paul Lewis
Self
Fabio Luisi
Self
Nicholas Marston
Self
Roger Norrington
Self
Bayan Northcott
Self
Gianandrea Noseda
Self
Vadim Repin
Self
Ilona Schmiel
Self
Lars Vogt
Self
David Waterman
Self
Claudio Abbado
Self
Frans Brüggen
Self
Salzburg Camerata
Self
David P. Dawson
Self
Juliet Stevenson
Narrator (voice)
Phil Grabsky
Director / Writer / Producer
In Search of Beethoven Ratings & Reviews
PopMatters
J.M. Suarez
Where In Search of Beethoven excels is in the details. For all the grandness of Beethoven's music, the documentary makes a real effort to present Beethoven the man as fairly and unsentimentally as possible.
Film Threat
Phil Hall
Puts far more focus on a Wikipedia-shallow explanation of the composer's various compositions than on his tumultuous life.
rec.arts.movies.reviews
Mark R. Leeper
[Grabsky] is documenting the life of Beethoven, he is illustrating the life with brilliant concert performers playing the music, but he is also having those same experts talking about what is in the music itself.
Boston Globe
Jeremy Eichler
Tells the story of its subject in a clear, accessible, and gimmick-free manner while still preserving, or perhaps even cultivating, a core sense of wonder at the creative monuments he bequeathed to us all.
Boston Phoenix
Shaula Clark
An intriguing portrait of the man as a hopeless romantic, a smack-talking punk, a sickly individual tormented by his deafness and thoughts of suicide, and an "eternal optimist."
San Francisco Chronicle
Joshua Kosman
In Search of Beethoven trudges through the composer's life and works, pausing along the way for the usual smorgasbord of talking heads and performance clips. The results are shapeless, drab and mostly predictable.
Los Angeles Times
Kevin Thomas
With In Search of Beethoven, documentarian Phil Grabsky has created a splendid work that will be a revelation to the uninitiated and a joy to music lovers.
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Grabsky's appreciation of Ludwig van Beethoven follows the familiar contours, but it pays attention to the humanizing specifics that bring us closer to the subject.
Chicago Reader
J. R. Jones
Grabsky does manage to convey how shockingly dramatic Beethoven's music seemed to the first people who heard it, and the musicians' sensitivity and articulation--both verbal and musical -- fire this chronicle of one man's extraordinary artistic journey.
NYC Movie Guru
Avi Offer
A well-researched documentary that's equally illuminating and captivating.
Slant Magazine
Rob Humanick
After the monotonous guide through history that was In Search of Mozart, Phil Grabsky's follow-up plays like a much-needed shot of adrenaline to the brain.
Boxoffice Magazine
Matthew Nestel
A visual biography that employs scores of live performances reimagining the master(TM)s infinite range -- from raging to ethereal.
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
What made Ludwig such a great musician? The documentary In Search of Beethoven, directed by Phil Grabsky, answers that question reasonably well.
rec.arts.movies.reviews
Louis Proyect
A perfect companion piece to "In Search of Mozart". A fully realized introduction to the man and his music that makes you want to listen to his entire body of work even if you think you have become jaded by one too many performances of the Moonlight Sonat
Village Voice
Andrew Schenker
The film's real resource is its impressive array of talking heads, their intimate familiarity with the music, and their ability to impart graspable insight.
Spirituality & Practice
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
An engrossing documentary on the life and music of the man many consider to be the most important composer of all time.
New York Times
Neil Genzlinger
The film stretches on too long... But the music soothes away a lot of complaints.
Variety
Joe Leydon
Beautifully lensed and intelligently crafted.
Cinema Signals
Jules Brenner
Reminds us that the person who wrote the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies wasn't residing on a plane somewhere beyond our gravity field.
Compuserve
Harvey S. Karten
The music is grand, and even the talking heads are occasionally interesting.
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