“What would the world be like without Beethoven?” That’s the provocative question posed by this music documentary. To answer it, the film explores how Ludwig van Beethoven’s innovations continue to have an impact far beyond the boundaries of classical music. What would be missing from jazz or film music, for example, if Beethoven had never created his many innovations? Would the concert business exist as we know it today? And how has it changed the role of the artist? Sarah Willis, horn player with the Berliner Philharmoniker, sets out on an entertaining and informative journey in search of answers. She meets people from around the world – musicians and managers – to follow the traces of Beethoven’s influence.
Sound of Freedom
The Soundtrack to Liberty – From the French Revolution to fall of the Iron Curtain. Music can move, comfort and encourage like no other medium. Social upheaval and political songs have marched hand in hand since the French Revolution, probably even before then. Music is a tool for mobilisation. It is the embodiment of the ideals and the hope for a better life. It galvanises the oppressed, spurs on the resistance and fires on the revolutionaries. The two part documentary Sound of Freedom goes back to the roots of this music of hope, rebellion, of the mavericks and the oppressed. This is the first time the sound of freedom and protest is being considered in its full historical context; not just within the microcosm of the Sixties and the civil rights movement, but with the narrative arc stretching from the 18th century to the present day. Part I: From the chansons of the French Revolution to the labour movement and the resistance against the Nazi Regime / Part II: From the hymns of the civil rights movement and the fight against apartheid to the call for sexual freedom and equality