Composer of the Week: Beethoven: What Is a Symphony?

The colossal legacy of Beethoven's nine symphonies have hovered over generations of composers since they were written, leading Johannes Brahms to exclaim `You can't have any idea what it's like always to hear such a giant marching behind you!" Over this week of programmes, Donald Macleod is joined by conductor John Eliot Gardiner to delve into these sublime works, beginning by discussing Beethoven's beginnings with the form, and his first two symphonies. They explore what the symphony was when Beethoven first came to write one, and what he did, even in these early works, to change it. Beethoven: Symphony No 1 in C, Op 21 - I. Adagio Molto - Allegro Con Brio. Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner (conductor); Symphony No 1 in C, Op 21 - III. Menuet segue IV. Finale. London Philharmonic Orchestra, Kurt Masur (conductor); Symphony No 2 in D, Op 36 - I. Adagio Molto - Allegro Con Brio. Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, David Zinman (conductor); Symphony No 2 in D, Op 36 - II. Larghetto segue III. Scherzo. Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)