DVD Review: In Search of Beethoven and In Search of Mozart: Special Collector's Edition

Article first published as DVD Review: In Search of Beethoven and In Search of Mozart: Special Collector's Edition on Blogcritics.

Those of you who have been looking for Mozart and Beethoven lo these many years are not alone, film director Phil Grabsky has been searching for them as well and the results, his two documentaries--In Search of Mozart and In Search of Beethoven are now available in a three DVD special collector's edition. Filmed, written and directed by Grabsky, they feature narration by Juliet Stevenson, a variety of talking heads and most importantly some brilliant performances by some of the world's finest musicians. The glory of Mozart and Beethoven is the music. Grabsky's films honor the music.

It is true that the music is represented by excerpts, and there are certainly those who would prefer longer excerpts, those that would prefer complete works. No doubt, more music wouldn't hurt. I can't imagine anyone buying this set complaining there was too much of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto or Beethoven's "Emperor." Still as Grabsky points out in an interview included as an extra, they had hours and hours of film. A choice had to be made between longer extracts from fewer works or a more comprehensive selection from the composer's canon. He chose the latter. These composers were nothing if not prolific, and it really would not be possible to present a reasonable selection of the wide range of their work if extended passages were used. As it is, the films start with their earliest compositions and move chronologically through the music sampling the lesser works as well as the masterpieces. Viewers can at least get a taste, and if anything particularly appeals to them there are always recordings available. Indeed, if the films get people interested enough to buy a CD or download a sonata clearly it has done at least one of its jobs.

There is nothing particularly innovative in the presentation of material. Both follow the lives and careers of the composers chronologically, although each uses one of the very last works to begin. They review what is known about the men's childhood, concentrating on their reputations as prodigies, emphasizing their activities as performers as well as composers. They talk about their struggles to earn a living, their personal life and their professional success. Those whose knowledge of them is limited to Amadeus and Immortal Beloved will find a good deal of the mythology surrounding the composers debunked. If I remember correctly, Salieri isn't even mentioned in In Search of Mozart and Beethoven's beloved turns out to be only one of many mortal beloveds over the years.

Analysis and appreciation of the music is provided by musicians, musicologists and critics. Some of it is technical, as for example when piano virtuoso Emmanuel Ax explains the difficulty of playing a passage in one of the sonatas with one hand as called for in Beethoven's fingering notations. Some of it is impressionistic, as when a variety of conductors describe the revolutionary impact of Beethoven's third symphony. In general there is nothing so technical as to lose the novice, and nothing so simplistic as to bore the more knowledgeable. More often than not it is truly illuminating to hear what people like Roger Norrington, Renee Fleming and Ronald Brautigam have to say.

Visuals for the biographical portions concentrate on paintings, close ups of building exteriors and interiors, and even some natural landscape shots. The Mozart film includes a lot of film of modern cities with streets clogged with autos and all the other accoutrements of modern life. This can be disconcerting at times. The Beethoven film avoids this kind of thing altogether. There is also a good deal of filmed performance. Close up shots of pianist's fingers hurtling over the keys can be fascinating. Portions of scenes from operas like Fidelio and The Magic Flute add variety. The footage of the Orchestra of the 18^th Century's performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is spectacular. The entrance of the basso from the back of the orchestra and chorus at the start of the choral passage in the last movement is a dramatic coup de theatre.

Each film includes an interview with the director and a trailer. In Search of Mozart runs 128 minutes, the Beethoven 139. Subtitles in German, Italian and French are available. The extras for In Search of Beethoven are on a separate disc, and include performances of complete movements from half a dozen pieces, including a performance of the "Pathetque" sonata, deleted scenes and a trip to the editing room.

These are two excellent films. They are both informative and entertaining. There is gossip that will titillate the tyro—Mozart's scatological correspondence, Beethoven's hygiene. There are moments in performance that will bring a smile—Ronald Brautigaum's struggles with one of the early Beethoven pieces. There are moments that will bring a lump to your throat—the Vienna Symphony's performance of the Missa Solemnis, the scenes from Fidelio. This is a set that will be a welcome addition to the collection of any music lover.

Book Review: Music on Film: Amadeus, by Ray Morton

Article first published as Book Review: Music on Film: Amadeus by Ray Morton on Blogcritics.

The Music on Film series from Limelight editions is a series of pocket sized studies of individual films where music is a central element. Some have been studies of musicals: West Side Story and Cabaret. Some have dealt with films that have significant musical components, but are not what you would call musicals: This is Spinal Tap and the forthcoming, A Hard Day's Night. Ray Morton's study of Peter Schaffer's Amadeus is in the latter category. His study focuses less on the music than it does on the film, its sources and its production. Like other books in the series, it provides an information packed introduction to a work of cinematic importance in a bite size portion. It is not quite what you would call a scholarly work. It lacks the documentation that the Cabaret volume has, but it does have a bibliography and an index. Still, it does not short the reader on detail.

There is biographical information on both Mozart and Salieri, not comprehensive biographies, but enough information to give readers an adequate idea of the real men portrayed in the film. There is also biographical information about all the major players in the production of the film, the playwright and eventual screen writer, Peter Schaffer, the director, Milos Forman, producer, Saul Zaentz, as well as the featured cast members, F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce. Although I question the relevance of much of the information about these lives that Morton sees fit to include, it is usually interesting information and never becomes obtrusive. At worst it seems like filler.

More germane is his commentary on the themes of the play and the movie and his discussion of the changes Schaffer and Forman agreed upon to transfer the play from the stage to the screen. Schaffer, Morton tells us, was interested in writing a play not so much about Salieri's war with Mozart, as he was with Salieri's war with God. Schaffer created in Salieri an artist who had dedicated his life to virtue and looked to God to reward him with genius, only to discover that virtue wasn't always rewarded. The Mozart Schaffer created on the other hand is a silly immoralist on the one hand, and a musical genius on the other. Virtue, indeed even wisdom, it seems has nothing to do with artistic merit. It is a truth worth parsing. Schaffer uses rumors of Salieri's involvement in Mozart's death to develop his tale, and while significant changes were made in the revisions of the play for the film, the basic theme remained the same, and in a sense became even more emphatic.

The film makes much greater use of Mozart's music than the stage version. Schaffer, Morton tells us, felt that too much music in the theatre has the feel of a concert. Sir Neville Marriner, perhaps the era's pre-eminent interpreter of Mozart's music was engaged to record the music, after it was agreed that the music would be used the way it was written, and not rejiggered for dramatic purposes. Actors had to learn to play instruments and conduct so that their movements would look realistic on the big screen. Period instruments were not used because Marriner felt they were unreliable, and wouldn't provide the kind of sound the film needed.

Filming was done in Czechoslovakia, despite the fact that Forman who had left the Communist controlled country and become an American citizen, had not been allowed back in the country. It seems the Communists couldn't see their way to turn down the millions of dollars the film's production would bring to their economy and allowed him to return to make his movie. Prague was chosen because it still had the kind of eighteenth century architecture prevalent during Mozart's lifetime. The Communist regime had never had the means to modernize the city. Besides it was cheaper to film In Czechoslovakia. There were problems, secret police embedded in the crew, poor food, cultural differences, but these faded in the light of budgetary considerations. After all, it turns out the Czech crew will work late for a ten dollar bill or a pair of designer jeans.

This is the kind of detail that brings life to Morton's book. There are many others. Margaret Thatcher objects to Schaffer's play because she feels that Mozart could never have been that way. Hulce deliberately drops lines in the scene where the dying composer dictates the Requiem to Salieri. Meg Tilly has to be replaced at the last minute because she is injured playing soccer with some children. Elizabeth Berridge, her replacement, is told she got the part because the other actress being considered was too pretty. Al Pacino, among others, was interested in playing Salieri. These are just a few examples.

Morton has not written a pedantic study. This may not be a book for all readers, but it is both lively and engaging. Film buffs will find it fascinating. Theatre lovers will love it. And the general readers, if by chance they happen to pick it up, they will happily find much to entertain them.