“An insightful, honest and personal approach to a well-known composer”
Charles Hazlewood’s highly personal and ground-breaking exploration of the inner life of composer Ludwig Van Beethoven is anchored by the fact that they both had abusive childhoods.
Produced by Factory 42 for Sky Arts, the hour-long documentary focuses on Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, the performance of which is the central pillar of the programme, as Hazlewood delves into the orchestral sketches that the composer created and rejected.
The symphony is performed by the Paraorchestra – an orchestra set up by Hazlewood that is made up of professional musicians, both disabled and non-disabled – whose members share their own relationships with Beethoven and their thoughts on his mental condition and hearing impairment.
One judge described Charles Hazlewood: Beethoven & Me as a programme with music at its heart that is respectful of its audience – and a “shining example of why Sky Arts is so important to the UK programming landscape”.
Another judge called it “an insightful, honest and personal approach to a well-known composer that contemporises the subject matter and highlights the performers in a seldom-seen light”.
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Award sponsored by Maidstone Studios
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