MovieChat Forums > Copying Beethoven (2007) Discussion > Conducting the conductor?

Conducting the conductor?

posted 10 years ago by melinda2001
2 replies | jump to latest

Anna was supposedly keeping the beat for Beethoven, but does that make any sense at all? I mean, a deaf conductor doesn't need to hear the musicians so that he can find the beat. The conductor *sets* the beat and the musicians must follow him. It seems to me that if he can hear it in his head and knows how he wants it to be played, he should even be able to conduct with his eyes closed as well. Or am I wrong?

I also had to cringe towards the climax of the Ninth when they started violently shaking the camera, as if the music was so powerful it was shaking the camera which was not supposed to exist.

I loved that the production values were very high but I found it difficult to like the movie overall.

[–] Wakanohana 8 years ago

A conductor who cannot hear the musicians can tell when he is beginning to set a pace that's too fast, or too slow, or to change the pace when the musicians do not expect it. Then some will try to follow him and others will try to repeat what they did in rehearsal -- so they get out of synch, like they did in the rehearsal scene.

Basically, all Anna Holtz did was help him maintain a constant pace.

[–] melinda2001 8 years ago

I take it you're not a musician of any sort so let me assure you that they must always follow the pace of the conductor/leader. Any good musician will know immediately if they fall out of sync for even a moment. Also, the conductor does not, and should not, attempt to keep a constant pace. Playing music is an expressive art, not a machine.