17 Nov 2020
At 12 noon each day this week on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Composer of the Week’, John Eliot Gardiner joins presenter Donald Macleod to delve into the world of Beethoven’s nine sublime symphonies.
In Monday’s episode, titled ‘What is a Symphony?’ they discussed 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.
You can listen to the rest of the series over the course of the week on Radio 3 on the BBC Sounds website:
Monday 16 November: ‘What Is a Symphony?’ (Symphonies 1 & 2) Listen now
Tuesday 17 November: ‘Writing for Eternity’ (Symphonies 3 & 4) Listen now
Wednesday 18 November: ‘Personal Philosophies (Symphonies 5 & 6) Listen now
Thursday 19 November: ‘The Dance of Life’ (Symphonies 7 & 8) Listen now
Friday 20 November: ‘What Can a Symphony Be?’ (Symphony 9) Listen now
