Composer of the Week: Beethoven - Freedom and Joy

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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: Freedom and Joy: What Is a Symphony?

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What Is a Symphony?

Beethoven Unleashed: Freedom and Joy

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Beethoven Unleashed: Freedom and Joy, What Is a Symphony?

Donald Macleod and John Eliot Gardiner discuss Beethoven’s first two symphonies.

Donald Macleod is joined by John Eliot Gardiner, founder of the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, to discuss Beethoven’s first two symphonies.

They have been described as “the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man”, “an expression of monumental intellect and innermost feeling”, and “music [which] sets in motion the machinery of awe, of fear, of terror, of pain.” There is no question that Beethoven’s nine symphonies changed music forever. The colossal legacy of these works has hovered over generations of composers since, leading Johannes Brahms to exclaim “You can't have any idea what it's like always to hear such a giant marching behind you!”

Over this week of programmes, Donald Macleod is joined by the conductor John Eliot Gardiner, founder of the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, to delve into the world of these nine sublime works. 

In Monday’s programme they discuss Beethoven’s beginnings with the form, and his first two Symphonies, exploring what the Symphony was when Beethoven first came to write one, and what he did, even in these early works, to change it. 

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.


Symphony No 1 in C , op 21 – I. Adagio Molto – Allegro Con Brio. Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique/Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Symphony No 1 in C, op 21 – III. Menuet segue IV. Finale. London Philharmonic Orchestra/Kurt Masur. Symphony No 2 in D, op 36 – I. Adagio Molto – Allegro Con Brio. Tonhalle Orchester Zürich/David Zinman. Symphony No 2 in D, op 36 – II. Larghetto segue III. Scherzo. Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique/Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Producer: Sam Phillips

Composer of the Week: Beethoven Unleashed: Freedom and Joy

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 and conductor John Eliot Gardiner explore Beethoven's nine symphonies.

Without question, Beethoven's nine symphonies changed music forever. Donald Macleod is joined by conductor John Eliot Gardiner to delve into the world of these sublime works.

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