Composer of the Week: Beethoven: Composer of the Week: Beethoven - Why Beethoven?

Donald Macleod launches a year-long focus on Beethoven by asking conductor Marin Alsop and historian Simon Schama why the composer still matters today. All through 2020, Donald will be taking an in-depth look into the compelling life story and extraordinary music of Ludwig van Beethoven. In this ambitious series told across 125 episodes, Donald takes listeners inside Beethoven's world and explores his hopes, struggles and perseverance in all the colourful detail this narrative deserves. Alongside this in-depth biography, Donald also meets and talks to Beethoven enthusiasts and experts from around the world to discover how the composer's music continues to speak to people in the 21st century. Through story and sound, the series builds into a vivid new portrait of this composer, born 250 years ago this year, who made art that changed how people saw themselves and understood the world. He begins by asking conductor Marin Alsop and historian Simon Schama why Beethoven still matters today.