Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Still in the Game

Faced with encroaching deafness, Beethoven embraces his career as a star performer, while he still can. Presented by Donald Macleod.

Beethoven had faced his encroaching deafness first with desperation and then with a new resolve: to live for his art, and make art that really counted. That meant not only making strides as a composer but embracing his life as a star performer, while he still could.

All this week, Donald Macleod traces Beethoven’s story through the momentous years of 1802 and 1803. It was a time that saw remarkable developments in Beethoven’s creativity as he pursued a self-declared ‘new path’ for his music. He undertook his most ambitious works yet, pouring his whole self into his art. At the same time his personal life was reaching a crisis point that would plunge him to the darkest depths of despair and threaten to ruin all his carefully laid plans for the future.

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 17, Op.31 No.2 ‘The Tempest’, II. Adagio
Khatia Buniatishvili, paino

Quintet for piano and winds Op 16. III. Rondo
Robin Williams, oboe
Maximiliano Martin, clarinet
Peter Whelan, bassoon
Alec Frank-Gemmill, horn
Pavel Kolesnikov, piano

Andante Favori WoO 57
Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano

Violin Sonata in A major Op 47 ‘Kreutzer’ I. Adagio sostenuto - Presto
Veronika Eberle, violin
Oliver Schnyder, piano

Piano Sonata No 21 in C major Op 53 ‘Waldstein’, I. Allegro con brio
Igor Levit, piano

59 minutes

Last on

Fri 22 May 2020 12:00

Music Played

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata No 17 in D minor, Op 31 No 2 'The Tempest' (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Khatia Buniatishvili.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Quintet in E flat major, Op 16 for piano and wind (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Alec Frank-Gemmill. Performer: Pavel Kolesnikov. Performer: Maximiliano Martín. Performer: Peter Whelan. Performer: Robin Williams.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Andante in F major, WoO 57 'Andante Favori' for piano

    Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Decca 4119022.
    • Decca.
    • 4.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Sonata in A major, Op 47 'Kreutzer' for violin and piano (1st mvt)

    Performer: Veronika Eberle. Performer: Oliver Schnyder.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata No 21 in C major, Op 53 'Waldstein' for piano (1st mvt)

    Performer: Igor Levit.

Broadcast

  • Fri 22 May 2020 12:00

Beethoven Unleashed – the box set

Beethoven Unleashed – the box set

The complete set of Radio 3 Beethoven Unleashed podcasts, with Donald Macleod.

What was really wrong with Beethoven?

What was really wrong with Beethoven?

Georgia Mann and neurosurgeon Henry Marsh examine the composer's numerous health problems

Composers A to Z

Composers A to Z

Visit the extensive audio archive of Radio 3 programmes about Composers and their works.

Who knew? Five eye-opening stories from Composer of the Week

Who knew? Five eye-opening stories from Composer of the Week

The production team reflects on 5 of Donald Macleod’s best stories from the last 20 years

Five reasons why we love Parry's Jerusalem

What is the strange power of Jerusalem which makes strong men weep?

A man out of time – why Parry's music and ideas were at odds with his image...

The composer of Jerusalem was very far from the conservative figure his image suggests.

Composer Help Page

Find resources and contacts for composers from within the classical music industry.