Why not Copying Mozart or Conducting Schoenberg?
Beethoven was the composer who first opened my ears to classical music. I heard the late string quartets when I was 18, and was shocked by this very complicated, passionate music. This was a great experience for me, and I began listening to all of his works. Years later, when I read the script for Copying Beethoven, which covers the late period of his life when he wrote those string quartets and also the great Ninth Symphony, I took it as a sign that the project was waiting for me. I read biographies and fictional treatments, discovering much more about the man. What was most enriching was spending more than a year with the glorious music. Music is such a crucial component of the film. What was your approach to incorporating it within the story? It’s very challenging and exciting to direct a sequence in which the music itself is emotionally powerful. The performance of the Ninth Symphony comes midway through the film and I see it as the turning point, when Anna and Beethoven work toget
