The Essay: Five Kinds of Beethoven

Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: Five Kinds of Beethoven: Nitin Sawhney

Nitin Sawhney

Five Kinds of Beethoven

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, Five Kinds of Beethoven, Nitin Sawhney

Nitin Sawhney on the origins, evolution and nature of Beethoven’s genius.

Nitin Sawhney, composer and musician, on the origins, evolution and nature of Beethoven’s genius.

Beethoven is a towering figure in classical music, beloved by the musical profession. At the same time, it is important to engage with the full diversity and range of his admirers in the 21st century.  This series is not so much a classical examination of Beethoven, but rather an opening out and broader engagement with his work in a very modern context, demonstrating the extraordinary power  of his work and its enduring influence.   

253 years since Beethoven’s birth, an essay series that considers Beethoven now, in a thoroughly contemporary and highly personal context. Our eminent and unexpected thinkers respond to and share their personal interpretation of Beethoven, placing his influence in a modern framework. Each Essayist offers  a uniquely personal insight into the scope of Beethoven’s work. 

What does Beethoven mean to you?  We put that very simple question to a wide range of  Essayists. The answers are unexpected, entertaining and informative. 

•	Nitin Sawhney, composer and musician - The origins, evolution and nature of Beethoven’s genius

Nitin learnt to play Beethoven from an early age and is fascinated by the  instinctive and spiritual nature of his genius, comparing it to others whose work blazed a trail in maths, science and visual arts.
Nitin  Sawhney  is  one  of  the  most  distinctive  and  versatile  musical  voices  around today,  achieving  an  international  reputation  across  every  possible  creative  medium. In  2017  he  received  the  Ivor  Novello  Lifetime  Achievement  award,  and  is  firmly established  as  a  world-class  producer,  songwriter,  DJ,  multi instrumentalist,  orchestral  composer  and  cultural  pioneer. 

Nitin has been appointed Chair of Trustees for PRS Foundation, the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development.
Sawhney has become a modern-day Renaissance man in the worlds of music, film, video games, dance and theatre. 

His  endless  creative  curiosity  makes  him  a  formidable  polymath  across  the  whole  artistic  range  of  media  associated  with  the  music  industry.
With  over  20  studio  albums  to  his  name,  including  solo  albums,  film  soundtracks  and  compilations,  he  has  received  a  substantial  wealth  of  major  national  and  international  awards  for  the  work.

In 2019, Nitin received a CBE in the New Year's Honours List and received the Outstanding Achievement in Music award at The Asian Awards.


Producer, Polly Thomas  
Executive producer, Eloise Whitmore

A Naked Production for BBC Radio 3.

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.

Five different Beethovens - from a poet, an actor, an MP, a professor and a musician.

Five different Beethovens - writer Inua Ellams, actor Sophie Stone, MP Thangam Debbonaire, Professor Andrew Biswell and musician Nitin Sawhney share what Beethoven means to them.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Essay

Five Kinds of Beethoven

Nitin Sawhney

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3