DVD Release: In Search of Beethoven

Early on in Phil Grabsky's documentary In Search of Beethoven (out today on DVD), handy fortepiano player and Ludwig van-lookalike Ronald Brautigam starts screwing up a section of Beethoven's very first, unpublished piano concerto. "If I concentrate on playing it," he laughs nervously, his hands covering his reddening face, "I might be able to do it." Brautigam is not just screwing up for our amusement. He's making a valuable point.

The point is this: right up into his twenties, Beethoven wasn't first and foremost the great European composer; he was the great European pianist, a Lisztian virtuoso. And when he put pen to paper, it was to show off and exploit this primary talent and income source, namely, piano acrobatics. Acrobatics Brautigam manages to surmount only on a third attempt. Just about.

Brautigam isn’t the only one. The cherub-shaped Emanuel Ax and his little cherubic hands admit to fudging the final parallel octaves in the Waldstein piano sonata. Instead of playing them clean, Ax elides them. “Find a nice piano and hope for the best,” is his advice. These professional confessions - particularly the contributions from Ax - are the highlights of this film and there are a few of them. The other contributions are, by turns, enthusiastic - but vague - or tantalising. Choosing such a large canvas - it's a complete-life-and-works sort of picture - Grabsky has to paint broadly.

Still, it’s mostly a fun old ride. And engaging visually. The camera angles are unusual but well chosen. On the pianists they’re high-ish, shoulder-height views that fix themselves on the fingers. And in the bonus extras there’s a brilliantly shot and excellently sung recital of An die ferne Geliebte with baritone Christian Gerhaher.

There’s a little too much hagiography for my liking; though I do realise that, for some, there can never be enough. And I would have preferred more real "searching", perhaps even some notes of discord. Though, quite out of keeping with the rest of the film, Beethoven scholar Jonathan del Mar does strike out boldly and intriguingly at the very end, suggesting that the Ninth Symphony may be flawed.

All in all, this is a valuable film but perhaps mostly for the uninitiated. For those who know their onions, there are some interesting details – I had no idea that Beethoven prayed twice daily, for instance – but, mostly, it covers well-worn ground. Having said that, it has its moments: Lars Vogt trilling through the last page of the Op 111 to Beethoven’s description of a dream he had flying to distant lands is a memorable match-up. And for pianophiles, there’s nothing like getting close to pianists’ fingers. For that alone, it’s worth a watch.