Why Beethoven

Beethoven's life and legacy in 100 recordings

Without Beethoven, music as we know it wouldn't exist.

There'd be no Wagner, Verdi, Mahler, Nina Simone, Michael Jackson, down to cello-playing Ed Sheeran. Norman Lebrecht asks: why? Who was this titan of world culture? In 100 recordings, freely available on Idagio and YouTube, Lebrecht brings to life the composer as we've never seen him before. Unruly, offensive and hopeless in his housekeeping, yes, but driven to a fault and devoted to his art: conquering deafness to pen the Missa Solemnis.

Along the way, we encounter Beethoven's performers across the centuries, in their glories and in their foibles. In this salacious and salutary biography, Beethoven emerges as the cornerstone of the world as we know it.

About the Author

Norman Lebrecht is the author of twelve works of non-fiction, including Genius and Anxiety, also published by Oneworld, and the international bestsellers The Maestro Myth, Why Mahler? and The Life and Death of Classical Music, which have been translated into seventeen languages. His first novel, The Song of Names, won a Whitbread Award and is now an award-winning film. He writes for the Spectator and the Wall Street Journal, and is working on his fourth novel. He lives in London.

@NLebrecht normanlebrecht.com