Customer Reviews

Eroica

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We may all know this piece, but to see the effect of this music on everyone from royalty to below-stairs staff lends insight into the music we could obtain no other way. The acting is awesome - there is a bit done by Timothy Piggott-Smith (Passage to India), perhaps a 60 second continuous take, that is Oscar-worthy all by itself and bears watching over and over, as the old warrior is overcome by the music's funereal second movement, perhaps recalling fallen comrades. Watch for it - it is overwhelming. And compare Jack Davenport in the role of Prince Lobkovitz here with his 180 degree role in (the real BBC) show Coupling, or Pirates of the Caribbean. Fennella Woolgar is suberb as his wife. Key, while there is indeed dialogue, much of the acting here is of necessity done with facial and bodily expressions only, since the entire symphony is performed. Watch what fine actors can do without a word spoken. The performance is visually as well as musically satisfying, because the actual musicians, not actors, are the players, and are duly credited. It is interesting to compare this John Elliott Gardiner reading with his on CD with the same orchestra - I swear, this is better! The only flaw - some may find the Beethovenian romance angle a bit hokey, but apparently even it is based on fact. A superb add-on is that after the dramatization, the entire symphony is presented again but this time without a break and with no dialogue; any spoken dramatic parts are replaced by watching what appears to be the original score, in time with the music. Only the BBC could have or would have lavished such production values and acting talent on one complete Beethoven Symphony. We are just glad they did. For people who love music, this is an astonishing masterpiece.

I am coming off a long evening of watching and rewatching this film, both beginning to end and piecemeal (sorting out thematic scenes). I had seen it a few times before, but hadn't systematically studied it. The film is neither a performance of the "Eroica" nor a historical pageant about Beethoven's biography, yet it manages to incorporate both of the above into something rather more ambitious. Incorporating a blazing performance of the symphony on period instruments into a reconstruction of its first performance at the Lobkowitz Palace, it manages to make a lot of statements about art, music, biography and history without ever being didactic. The acting is magnificent; understated and mostly mute, it characterizes Prince Lobkowitz and his wife, his arrogant aristocratic cousin, Haydn, various servants and musicians, and Beethoven's poor despised pupil in a few strokes of body language and fewer words. It combines historical fact with biographical speculation, without aggrandizing or overstating either. It's really a film about a moment in musical history, which is best encapsulated in Haydn's few comments towards the end of the film. The performances, both musical and theatrical, are terrific. On my first few viewings, I was bothered by the characterization of Beethoven (a bit too tentative, and too unpredictable in his moods). On further viewing, and further reflection, I think it fits perfectly. As a film biography of a musician and his work, it certainly beats anything else I've seen hands down (the creepy and silly "Amadeus," as exhibit A).

The last two movements of the symphony are played partially in background, behind wrapups of thematic sequences. At first this bothered me (why not play the whole symphony, and put the other material between or after movements?). In retrospect, after a few viewings, I think it puts the music, life, and history into the proper perspective: and after all, it's a film, not a music video.

Final thought: the performance of the symphony is wonderful!

This has always been one of my favorite classical selections, and my favorite Beethoven symphony. I first stumbled into this movie near the middle one night just before turning in. Needless to say I ended up turning in much later.
My wife and I continue to watch this film from start to finish always coming away with a refreshed inner joy. The quality of the acting is superb, and the cutting from the orchestra to the characters throughout the house, and their reactions, adds so much to an old familiar piece. I highly recommend this to anyone who: loves music; loves film; loves Beethoven, and who loves a good story told well.
My only regret is that this format has not been applied to other such classics.

This is the type of thing that seems destined for failure, a movie about the first performance of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. It is, however, surprisingly effective. A great deal of the credit goes to an excellent performance by John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, which is really the centerpiece of the movie. Its impossible to be unaffected by this ravishingly beautiful music and this colors the reception of the movie. The creators of the DVD clearly wanted to emphasize a number of historical features; the novelty of Beethoven's Romantic style of composition, the dependent character of artists in late 18th/early 19th century Europe, the nature of a society based on deference to inherited rank, the relationship between revolutionary art (even as such art is patronized by aristocrats) and revolutionary politics, and Beethoven's tempestous personality. These are covered in a series of very well acted plot actions around the performance. These plot actions are largely well integrated with the performance and the nature of the different movements of the symphony. An admirable effort.

Just to let you know where I am coming from. I am not particularly a Beethoven fan.

This movie which includes a complete playing of the 3rd Symphony is intended to put that piece in general and musical historical context. It accomplishes that goal in a startlingly unique and entertaining way. There is no other movie quite like this one.

The reactions of every one from scullery maids to princes are expressed non-verbally. Not all are entirely approving. By necessity the acting is subtly nuanced. The social system of the time is displayed in microcosm. The politics of non-French Napoleonic Europe are hinted at, and Beethoven is placed in the center of it. The whole is really ... quite moving. The essence is finally captured by Hayden when he comments after the performance, "From this day forward, everything is changed." And indeed so it was.

(PS: if you like rock music or the movie "Amadeus", don't bother. You won't like this.)

Prior to Beethoven, composers were servants of Kings, Princes and other "noble" gentry- essentially belonging to the courts of those who provided them with a living. Beethoven demanded equality not from any nebulous "royal" bloodline, but due to his talent. With his third symphony (Eroica) he placed himself at the center of his creation: the artist as self-actualized hero. Not only did Eroica challenge old notions of composition, it also was a personal revelation of Beethoven's inner struggle. His music no longer glorified his proprietors but it glorified himself and such was the stunning brilliance of this work, it placed his name in the firmament, ushering in a new era that would come to be known as the Romantic Movement. This film chronicles the day during which Beethoven revealed his latest composition to a stunned orchestra and his own royal court. Also present on that day was Joseph Hayden, a luminary of the old guard and actor Frank Finlay's brilliant performance nearly steals the show. After the performance Hayden was asked for his critique, and while he seemed a bit perplexed as to whether he "enjoyed" the piece or not, he immediately grasped its importance by uttering these immortal words, "Everything is different as from today."

On another review I stated that is very difficult to write about music. Music is to be heard and then judged upon it's merits. A film is still much more difficult to conceive especially if it is coupled to a complete performance of the work. In this case Luigi van Beethoven's (that's how he signed this work before...see the movie please) Symphony No.3 acquired the name "Eroica" sometime after; it's not clear where or whom to attribute that name. No demerits here because of this minor factoid.

This DVD is all about the music firstly and the social environment as a background secondly. However, what makes this DVD an implicit document is not only the music but it's nuanced description of society as it was structured at the beginning of the 19 th. Century both in Vienna, Austria, and the implicit influence of France and Napoleon Bonaparte which in the end extended through the whole of Europe and basically to Moscow's doorsteps eventually.

This symphony by Luigi van Beethoven was his third and indeed was revolutionary in every aspect. It was not the first romantic orchestral work of the time; we probably have to go back in time and look at Gluck's opera music, especially his opera's "Orphee et Euridyce" and "Alceste."

However, revolutionary it certainly was. Sir John Eliot Gardiner's named his superb ensemble "Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique", a coincidence or a causality? Better let him explain that.

This incredible orchestra is predicated on performance with original period instruments. What we have here are valveless hunting horns instead of valved French Horns. Instead of modern clarinets old design (ca. 1770) Alto and Soprano clarinets (so it appears) are used, and the trumpets are valveless also and not at all like modern instruments. The tympani are played with wooden mallets (they were specified as such as such on the original score using the German term "Holz"). All together the sound, the melody and the harmony of the orchestra is altered; it's not what we normally hear. What we normally hear is Richard Wagner's conception of how Ludwig (not Luigi) van Beethoven should be played according to Wagner. Moreover now a days we also other Wagner emulator's conceptions of what Beethoven should sound like in their own minds. Is anybody playin Beethoven like he scored? Besides a handful like Gardiner, Harnoncourt, Norrington?

The result? An overwhellming perfomance by virtuosy...the musicians at their period instruments, and the conductor (Gardiner) with his absolute control of melodic-harmonic line and tempi which all add to the clarity of the lines. This is absolutely the best (my opinion) rendicion of Luigi van Beethoven's 3rd. Symphony I've ever heard. I've never seen a really satisfactory rendition of this work in my life so far until now. The tempi are Luigi's tempi, not Wagner's tempi, or Mahler's...Bernstein or...who cares?

As to the representation of the social environment in this movie all I can say is that, I as an Ethnomusicologist, even in a fictionalized story, I admire how through this movie the inner works of the social structure and culture of the times are dissected far beyond anything done so far. In comparison, I really like Amadeus' story but it has little to do with reality. This movie is as close a representation of reality as you can get.

This movie, this DVD, is a document which will remain for a long time as a reference in music history; I'll suspect many students will watch this movie as part of their curriculum in music history in colleges and universities.

FINAL WORDS: see the movie (DVD) and judge for yourself. No need to read these reviews, just watch the movie and be your own judge. Basically, no one these days has the opportunity to hear and see live that which Sir Roger Norrington once called (approximately - it was a long time ago) "...a tympani concerto as a symphony..." The Mannheim school of music really comes through here with their crescendos and diminuendos...all originating and controlled by the tympani and here the kettle drums are just glorious.

This CD represents an intriguing concept: a drama based on the first performance (a kind of rehearsal) of Beethoven's magnificent Symphony # 3, originally dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte (but changed after learning of Bonaparte's accession to Emperor). A lot of dramatic elements are encapsulated in this BBC production. The music, I think, dominates, but here I will review the drama (at another point, I may review the symphony itself, which is also included on this CD).

The music itself is played by Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. And a nice version of the Third Symphony this is. A number of the musicians (not the full orchestra) actually play the role of musicians in this drama.

The structure of the drama is around the four movements of this work. Some cannot comprehend what they are hearing; others are delighted by the novelty. Between movements, there are exchanges and interactions among the characters. Ian Hart plays Ludwig van Beethoven, and does not do badly. He is in turn rude and vulnerable and brilliant; he is beginning to experience the deafness that afflicted him the rest of his life (is it not astonishing that he composed the late symphonies, the late string quartets, and so on while being deaf?).

We see Count Dietrichstein hating the music, because it does not conform to the formalities of symphonies. This represents a nice counterpoint, later, when "Papa" Haydn stops by to listen and concludes after the fourth movement that "Everything is different from today."

The drama notes an unhappy ending to a romance that he would like to conclude with marriage; the promise of financial support from Prince Lobkowitz; his testy relationship with a student (he concurs with Haydn that "students are idiots").

The drama is adequate, but it is the music that scintillates and is the heart of this work. Nonetheless, the drama itself is worth watching for a portrayal (not always accurate) of Beethoven and his times (including class relationships). I give this 5 stars for the music; otherwise, for the drama, 3 1/2 stars.

If you are a history buff, classical music fan, or just interested in Beethoven and the era in which he lived, and the circumstances under which he worked, see this film. Extraordinary perfomances, marvelous historical accuracy, and a knockout performance of the piece. Mr. Hart, in particular, is marvelous as the mercurial, volatile composer at the height of his powers at the age of 34. Whoever thought of bringing Beethoven's former teacher, Haydn, in at the end deserves my particular praise. Nothing like this in terms of quality, imagination and faithfulness to fact exists as far as I know, in any other format.

Incomparable mix of beautiful audio and stunning visual acting, directing, and cinematic prose. Facial expressions captured within the musical emotions forever. Truly a production for the ages, and for all ages! This movie captures the essence of Beethoven and his Romantic visions and emotions within the awestruck eyes of the wonderful actors; participants all within the composers tragic and compassionate expertise, beyond kingly understanding!