In 1803 Beethoven described himself as Hercules at the crossroads,' dissatisfied with his work and facing the threat of becoming totally deaf. It was then that he began work on the ' Eroica,' the Symphony No 3 in E flat which a contemporary critic said ' revealed symptoms of an evidently unbridled attempt at peculiarity.' The story is wrrtten and narrated by EDWARD GREENFIELD with DAVID TIMSON , ANTONY HIGGINSON , JOHN RUDDOCK and WILLIAM FOX as his friends and contemporaries, and musical illustrations from a gramophone record of the symphony by the BERLIN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA. COnducted by HERBERT VON KARAJAN Producer PATRICIA BRENT