Copying Beethoven Again

[Michael]

For those in the US who have been on the fence about whether to acquire the DVD of Copying Beethoven, I understand that it has just gone out of print (pretty short shelf life, if you ask me). Most online sellers have it in stock presently but once they're gone they're gone and you're at the mercy of eBay sellers. No idea whether it might be replaced by another edition at some point.

It's coming out on DVD this side of the pond next Jan or Feb and I think it has been issued in Germany. I wonder will it last any longer over here?
As regards a future edition, I wouldn't hold my breath. "Immortal Beloved" has never had a European release.

[Tod]

Isn't it the BBC version originally called EROICA? I can find it on Amazon, when I have the patience to read all the rules to buy it online. I can't find the "order" anywhere in any page...I can't use it (frustration) Thank you Tod.

Hey Terry, as Michael states the "Eroica" is a different program. The BBC's "The Genius of Beethoven" series is a 3 part movie style documentary only shown on the BBC in the UK a couple of yeas ago.

Just go to google and type in :-

bbc the genius of beethoven

You will see the 3 parts listed about 5 listings from the top of the page and you can download them to your hard drive. Best if you have cable/adsl as they are 500MB each, so they'll take a while.

[terry]

Hey Terry, as Michael states the "Eroica" is a different program. The BBC's "The Genius of Beethoven" series is a 3 part movie style documentary only shown on the BBC in the UK a couple of yeas ago.

Just go to google and type in :-

bbc the genius of beethoven

You will see the 3 parts listed about 5 listings from the top of the page and you can download them to your hard drive. Best if you have cable/adsl as they are 500MB each, so they'll take a while.

Thank you Tod. I'll ask to someone as I don't have cable/adsl

[Michael]

At least "Copying Beethoven" seems to have been popular somewhere:


Beethoven Piano Sonatas Reign in Seoul

Paik Kun-woo, one of the most celebrated musicians of the current time, will deliver all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas at Seoul Arts Center from Dec. 8-14.
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Seoul seems to have turned into a festival paying homage to the immortal Ludwig van Beethoven. Following the release of the film ``Copying Beethoven'' and an unprecedented performance of Beethoven's complete cello sonatas by cellist Yang Sung-won, a series of piano concerts celebrating the maestro await fans in December.

Paik Kun-woo's 7-Day Piano Marathon

Paik Kun-woo, 61, one of the most celebrated musicians of our time, will rewrite classical music history by delivering all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas ― in just seven days, from Dec. 8-14. Pianists have given serial performances of the complete works, but it was usually over a period of two months to a year ― not over seven daily recitals.

The upcoming concerts at the Seoul Arts Center mark the culmination of Paik's three-year recording project with major record label Decca. Over the course of recording the 32 pieces, Paik trailed traces of Beethoven in Vienna, visiting the theater where his masterworks premiered; the place he met Goethe; the house he wrote his putative suicide note; and where the maestro used to take walks.

Paik will play the sonatas in chronological order, playing sonatas Nos. 19 and 20, which Beethoven composed in his early years, as well as Nos. 1, 3 and 5 for the first concert. He will go on to perform the named titles such as ``Pathetique,'' ``Appassionata'' and ``Moonlight,'' and will end with Nos. 30, 31 and 32 on the last day.

His reasons for the intensive marathon? ``I just want to live and breathe Beethoven. If I take breaks in between I'll have to return to reality, and I don't want to,'' Paik said in a previous press meeting. In a recent appearance before the press at a Seoul gallery, he further explained that he thinks of the 32 sonatas as ``a singular piece.''

``Beethoven's life tugged at my heartstrings. He lived a painful and tragic life, but was a very loving person. I wish to sketch out his entire life through his 32 piano sonatas,'' he said. ``I wish to sit Beethoven next to me and feel his presence… I want to breathe life into these 200-year-old works.

``It will be a rare opportunity for (both myself and) the audience to have such an intimate contact with music,'' he said, but requested that the audience wait until the end of the entire program to clap so as not the break the ``musical flow.''

Paik debuted at the age of 10, playing the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Korean National Orchestra. In 1972, the Juilliard graduate stole the limelight by performing Ravel's complete piano works at the Lincoln Center, and went on to make a stellar orchestral debut with James Conlon in Carnegie Hall.

He was soon appearing in major halls from New York to Berlin and Saint Petersburg, collaborating with maestro conductors such as Mikhail Pletnev, John Nelson and Mariss Jansons. In 2000, he was the first Korean artist to be officially invited to perform in China.

``When you've been living abroad for so long, there comes a time when you look back at your music. The Beethoven sonatas complete my music,'' said Paik, who currently lives in Paris. He serves as artistic director of the Emerald Coast Music Festival in Dinard, France, and was named Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2000.

Tickets cost from 20,000 won to50,000 won for each concert. For reservations, call 1577-5266 or visit www.interpark.com, www.ticketlink.com.


Rising star pianist Seo Yeol-eum will give fresh interpretation of seven of Beethoven's piano sonatas, Dec. 9-10 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.

Son Yeol-eum's Beethoven Story

Rising star pianist Son Yeol-eum has just spent a year in Germany, Beethoven's homeland, and will give fresh interpretations of seven of his piano sonatas, Dec.9-10 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.

On the first day, the 21-year-old pianist will play sonatas Nos. 4 and 18, as well as 8 (Pathetique), and 21 (Waldstein). The following evening, she will bring to life the last three of the piano works, Nos. 30, 21 and 32.

Son is a promising musician of her generation. After first laying her hands on piano keys at the age of three, she was studying with Korea's famed pianist Kim Dae-jin by 12, and at the young age of 16, she entered the Korean National University of Arts.

In 2002, she became the youngest ever winner of the prestigious Viotti Competition, and the first recipient of the Kumho Musician of the Year Award in 2004.

The young artist has performed with major Korean and Japanese orchestras, and appeared onstage in music festivals in Germany, Poland and Israel among other places. She also has a complete Chopin Etudes (Op. 10 and Op. 25) album with Universal Music under her belt. She currently studies in Hanover.

The concert will take place 5 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 9 and 7:30 p.m., Monday, Dec. 10. Tickets cost 20,000-30,000 won. For reservations, visit www.interpark.co.kr. For more information call (02) 399-1616. The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts is located near exits 1 and 8 of Gwanghwamun Station on subway line 5.

hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr

(End of news item)


Oddly enough, my only DVD copy of "Immortal Beloved" was a Korean import.

[Quijote]

Yes, in E or G please. I will allow a transcription for the string quartet version only.

I never agree to what the 'customer' asks for. It will be (it must be?) as the spirit tells me. "Do you think I worry about your wretched fiddle when the spirit speaks to me?"

I think, then, that my canon will be a highly 'gender-inflected' little number in the style of Schubert, just to get your goat, PDG!

[DavidO]

Hey Terry, as Michael states the "Eroica" is a different program. The BBC's "The Genius of Beethoven" series is a 3 part movie style documentary only shown on the BBC in the UK a couple of yeas ago.

Just go to google and type in :-

bbc the genius of beethoven

You will see the 3 parts listed about 5 listings from the top of the page and you can download them to your hard drive. Best if you have cable/adsl as they are 500MB each, so they'll take a while.

Tod, Part 1 of this series doesn't seem to be playing -- or downloading. Other than Google Video, is it watchable or retrievable anywhere on the Web? (I downloaded Parts 2 & 3 as Windows Media Player files just fine already.)

[Tod]

Tod, Part 1 of this series doesn't seem to be playing -- or downloading. Other than Google Video, is it watchable or retrievable anywhere on the Web? (I downloaded Parts 2 & 3 as Windows Media Player files just fine already.)

Yes, it's also listed under that search....multiple listings, just find one that works perhaps.

[PDG]

I never agree to what the 'customer' asks for. It will be (it must be?) as the spirit tells me. "Do you think I worry about your wretched fiddle when the spirit speaks to me?"

I think, then, that my canon will be a highly 'gender-inflected' little number in the style of Schubert, just to get your goat, PDG!

Leave my fiddle and my goat alone. Without them I have no milk and am unable to fiddle!

[Michael]

Just got an email from Play.com to tell me that the Region 2 edition of "Copying Beethoven" will not be available after all. The movie seems destined to sink without a trace.

[Chris]

That's a shame

[terry]

Just got an email from Play.com to tell me that the Region 2 edition of "Copying Beethoven" will not be available after all. The movie seems destined to sink without a trace.

This means that you won't get the dvd in Europe? Ireland? Excuse me, is it you that are missing the movie? Is it to you that I have offered my dvd in Spanish? I don't connect often and sometimes I miss things. Tell me, I'll make a copy for you and send it. I need information about how to contact each other without writing my e-mail here and everywhere on the web (one never knows..)

[Laurenticwave]

Dire indeed

Peter, after all those reviews I don't know how you can approach this film with an open mind. If you were on a jury, you would be disqualified. Honestly, it's not that bad.

In my view, every bit as bad!