Episode 28 – Beethoven’s Musicians

In this episode, John looks at the musicians that Beethoven worked with, and whom publicly played his music; not always with happy results. John reveals which Italian double bass virtuoso impressed Beethoven so much, the great composer began to fly the flag for the instrument himself. He also introduces us to the 10 year-old boy Beethoven took on as a pupil, and who became one of the great champions of his music; he could play all 35 piano sonatas from memory. Finally, we’ll meet a now little-known violinist who sight-read a Beethoven sonata during a performance, to great acclaim by the composer himself. The two became friends, until the musician made a dramatic mistake which meant the two of them never spoke again. All the Beethoven pieces featured in this podcast are taken from the 90-disc Naxos box set, the Complete Beethoven Edition. You can buy yours by heading to Presto Classical and Europadisc.