Concerto - A Beethoven Journey

This documentary from the U.K. was the first press screening for the 2016 Seattle International Film Festival. We follow Leif Ove Andsnes, a Scandinavian concert pianist as he devotes four years to delving into the works of Beethoven. The film is directed by Phil Grabsky.

I noticed several things:

• The editing is brilliant, what we see is also what we hear. This is far more challenging than it sounds!
• We visited concert halls all over the world, from an intimate little place that seated about 100, to Disney Hall in Los Angeles.
• The orchestras were, for the most part, young, lively, photogenic and extremely capable.
• We enjoyed the formal portraits of Beethoven that advanced from a youthful, optimistic young man, to his much darker, solemn (and deaf) maturity. (He died in his fifties.)
• We heard excerpts from letters he wrote over the years that describe his mood, the creative process and provide insight into the man.
• I spotted at least three different concert masters (and mistresses) during the course of this four-year journey all over the world.

This one is for lovers of piano, music, and Beethoven. Not necessarily in that order.