Deutsche Welle Releases "The Beethoven Project"
There’s a brand new film in town and
the star is Beethoven. “Supporting
actors” are Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director Paavo Järvi and members of the
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. The
film, “The Beethoven Project,” will be shown at 5 p.m. October 11 at the
Esquire Theater in Clifton.
Directed by Christian Berger, “The Beethoven Project” is a documentary about the German chamber orchestra’s marathon performance of all nine Beethoven symphonies in four days at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Germany in 2009. The concerts were streamed live over the Internet and into movie theaters in Europe by Deutsche Welle and made into a DVD, which has just been released.
The film covers the event from preparation to the final bars of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Beethovenhalle in Bonn. Järvi and members of the orchestra discuss each of the nine symphonies and the challenges they present. There is footage of rehearsals and performances and background on the orchestra and Järvi himself, including a visit to Estonia (his native country) to conduct at the Estonian National Song Festival in July, 2009.
Tickets are $10 and may be reserved at the Cincinnati Film Festival web site at http://cincinnatifilmfestival.com/index.php/en/tickets
For more on the 2009 Beethoven Festival and
the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen concerts see "Beethoven for Our Times in Bonn" (Reviews, Sept. 17, 2009) and "Bumming Around Bonn" (Features, Sept. 19, 2009) on this site.