Composer of the Week: Beethoven: Phoenix Rising

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

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: Phoenix Rising: Fall

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Beethoven Unleashed: Phoenix Rising

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Beethoven Unleashed: Phoenix Rising, Fall

Donald Macleod explores Beethoven through the years 1813-1815

Donald Macleod finds Beethoven slipping from the public’s affections. Loneliness and despair once again begin to set in

After the most successful period of his life, Donald Macleod now finds Beethoven starting to slip from the Viennese public’s affections. As the composer struggles to cope, loneliness and despair once again begin to set in.

This week, Donald Macleod explores Ludwig van Beethoven’s life through the years of 1813-1815 – a time of great change throughout Europe as Napoleon was overthrown. For Beethoven, it was undoubtedly the most successful period of his entire career, as he began, at last, to receive public recognition for his music. However, these years also saw him slump to an artistic nadir as he succumbed to the call for patriotic crowd-pleasers in the wake of this massive political change.

Composer of the Week is 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.

Piano Sonata no.27, Op 90
Igor Levitt (piano)

Kurz ist der Schmerz, und ewig ist die Freude, WoO163 & Brauchle, Lincke, WoO167
Accentus

Cello sonata no. 5 in D major, Op 102’2 - II. Adagio con molto sentimento d'affetto
Steven Isserlis (cello)
Robert Levin (piano)

Piano Concerto no. 6  (fragment, completed by Nicholas Cook and Hermann Dechant)
Sophie-Mayuko Vetter (piano)
Hamburg Symphony
Peter Ruzicka (conductor)

Fidelio, Op 72 – Act II “Euch werde Lohn in bessern Welten”
Gundula Janowitz (Leonore)
René Kollo (Florestan)
Manfred Jungwirth (Rocco)
Wiener Philharmoniker
Leonard Bernstein (conductor)


Producer: Sam Phillips for BBC Cymru Wales

Composer of the Week: Beethoven Unleashed: Phoenix Rising

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.

Donald Macleod explores Beethoven's life and music through the years 1813-1815.

Donald Macleod explores Beethoven's life through the years 1813-1815, the most successful period of his entire career, as his music began, at last, to receive public recognition.

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