The business of Beethoven

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"Beethoven's arms were bigger than the piano," says concert pianist Stephen Hough at his Steinway. "I sense him pushing at every moment - as if he's in a cage saying 'Let me out'". To mark the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth in 2020, Clemency Burton-Hill looks at a little-known aspect of his life: Beethoven the entrepreneur. In the company of some of the foremost Beethoven proponents - pianist Stephen Hough, violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter and Daniel Hope, and jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis - Clemency investigates how Beethoven pushed and cajoled music publishers, music printers and piano makers to turn convention on its head and create a music "industry". Could he even have invented the gig economy? The programme was made in collaboration with the US radio stations WNYC and WQXR Presenter: Clemency Burton-Hill Producer: Adele Armstrong Picture Credit: Getty