Hello, I’m Times music critic
Mark Swed, this week giving our irreplaceable Carolina A. Miranda a break before Christmas as we keep arts essential. I’m here just in time to point out that this week our most essential composer,
Ludwig van Beethoven unless you care to call him Louis van Beethoven, as a new German biopic does marks what would have been his 250th birthday. So Beethoven is where we’ll start.
A sculpture of Beethoven in Kamp-Lintfort, Germany.
(Martin Meissner / Associated Press)
Music for our times
In his review of the German TV film, Times contributor Robert Abele found it “elegantly tailored” but “never exactly stirring,” which sounds more Louis-like than the Ludwig we all know. I haven’t seen it because I’ve been too busy trying to catch up with all the other things Beethoven. It’s been a full plate. But then, the Beethoven plate is always full. No matter where you are, no matter what you listen to, Beethoven molecules might be in the e