Genius & Destiny
Episode: 1x01 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (30 min)
In this opening episode, Barenboim draws on excerpts from piano sonatas, concertos, and symphonies by Beethoven - comparing them with superficially similar works by Mozart.
Episode: 1x01 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (30 min)
In this opening episode, Barenboim draws on excerpts from piano sonatas, concertos, and symphonies by Beethoven - comparing them with superficially similar works by Mozart.
Episode: 1x02 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (35 min)
Daniel Barenboim shines the spotlight on Beethoven's formal innovations - just as he refused to show subservience to his aristocratic patrons, he also flouted convention in music.
Episode: 1x03 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (30 min)
Daniel Barenboim turns to the monumental Waldstein sonata - one of the most musically ingenious and technically demanding of the 32 piano sonatas.
Episode: 1x04 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (30 min)
Barenboim's fiery interpretation of the Appassionata sonata, a spectacular encapsulation of the synthesis of extremes that he discussed in the third episode.
Episode: 1x05 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (35 min)
Daniel Barenboim turns his attention to the Leonore Overtures Nos 2 and 3, elucidating the path that Beethoven took from one to the other and the musical reasons for his revisions.
Episode: 1x06 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (30 min)
The composer's Piano Concerto No 4, a soulful and contemplative work that finds Beethoven at his most poetic, and a piece holding a special place in the lore of his life and career.
Episode: 1x07 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (30 min)
The remarkable Fourth Piano Concerto concludes with Daniel Barenboim alongside Sir Adrian Boult and the New Philharmonia Orchestra.
Episode: 1x08 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (35 min)
The effortless musicality and irrepressible joy that have made generations of music lovers fall in love with the A Major Cello Sonata, performed here by Jacqueline du Pré.
Episode: 1x09 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (30 min)
Daniel Barenboim turns his attention to Beethoven's Third Symphony, the Eroica, a watershed moment in the evolution of Beethoven's artistry and, indeed, of music itself.
Episode: 1x10 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (35 min)
An up-close look at the singular qualities with which Beethoven imbued all his work - the sheer breadth of his expression and his sensitivity for colour and sound.
Episode: 1x11 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (30 min)
Beethoven's final piano sonata's first movement, with its many differences in tonal and formal expansiveness, motivic spontaneity, and compositional architecture.
Episode: 1x12 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (35 min)
The second movement of Sonata No 32, which presents a vision of eternity undisturbed and a spiritual expression of pure innocence consciously won through the lessons of experience.
Episode: 1x13 | Airdate: Dec 19, 2020 (45 min)
A spirited performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, with the young Daniel Barenboim at the helm of the New Philharmonia Orchestra.