Composer of the Week: Beethoven: Drawing Room Demon

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Kate Molleson

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Beethoven Unleashed: The Drawing Room Demon: Poised for Immortality

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Poised for Immortality

Beethoven Unleashed: The Drawing Room Demon

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Beethoven Unleashed: The Drawing Room Demon, Poised for Immortality

Beethoven wrestles with his first symphony. Presented by Donald Macleod.

Beethoven wrestles with the new symphony he hopes will propel him to stardom, but the Viennese public are not sure if they like what he has to offer. Presented by Donald Macleod.

Beethoven was nearly 30 years old but yet to compose any of the major masterpieces he is best known for today. Donald Macleod follows his progress as Beethoven puts his music before a wider public and starts work on his ambitious first symphony.

This week, Donald Macleod follows Beethoven through the years 1796-99, as the young composer learns to negotiate the privileged and moneyed circles of Vienna’s culture loving aristocracy. Few can resist his extraordinary charisma as a virtuoso pianist, but will he also be able to persuade them of his talents as a composer?

Composer of the Week will be returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020. Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

Violin Sonata op 12, no 3, III. Rondo, allegro molto
Alexandra Soumm, violin
Adam Laloum, piano

Piano Sonata no 6 in F, op 10, movts. II & III
Mieczyslaw Horszowski, piano

Zärtliche Liebe, WoO 123
Ilker Arcayurek, tenor
Simon Lepper, piano

Trio in B flat major, op 11
Atos Trio

Symphony No.1 in C, I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Conducted by Thierry Fischer


Producer: Chris Taylor

Composer of the Week: Beethoven Unleashed: The Drawing Room Demon

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Beethoven seeks out wealthy patrons to support his music. Presented by Donald Macleod.

Donald Macleod follows Beethoven through the years 1796-99 as the young composer learns to negotiate the privileged and moneyed circles of Vienna's culture-loving aristocracy.

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