In Search of a Cure

Beethoven turns to medical science in a desperate attempt to find a remedy for his failing hearing.

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.

Symphony No.4, IV. Allegro ma non troppo
BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda

Piano Sonata No 21 in C major, Op 53 ‘Waldstein’, II & III
Igor Levit, piano

Septet Op. 20, III. Tempo di Menuetto
Vienna Octet

Sonata in G major for violin and piano, Op 30 No 3, II. Tempo di minuetto
Esther Yoo, violin
Zhang Zuo, piano

6 Variations on an original theme in F major, Op 34
Alfred Brendel, piano