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Pianist Jonathan Biss shares the wonder of Beethoven's piano sonatas with Donald Macleod, beginning today with the innovations of No 4 in E flat, the 'Grand Sonata'.

Biss has just completed a nine-year odyssey to record all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas. It's been a revelatory experience, and his relationship with Beethoven remains far from over. These works are so remarkable, he says, they changed the course of musical history, and beyond that as a performer, they demand that he continues to play them for the rest of his life.

Recorded at the piano, in the Angela Burgess Recital Hall at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Jonathan shares his life-long passion for Beethoven with Donald. As they talk, he demonstrates how and why Beethoven's piano sonatas advanced the genre far beyond anything that anyone had ever achieved previously. As they talk each day we will gain a performer's perspective of Beethoven's developmental trajectory. Together they'll unpack some of Jonathan's personal favourites, among them the Appassionata, the Tempest, No 27 in E minor op 90 and No 30 in E major op 109.

Beethoven was a young man in his twenties when he arrived in Vienna in 1792. The piano was his instrument, and he was an accomplished performer himself. As a newcomer, he needed to make his mark, and what better way to do that than through a medium which he knew would allow him to dazzle and shine.

Beethoven: Piano sonata no 2 in A major, op 2 no 2
Third movement: Scherzo: Allegretto
Jonathan Biss, piano

Beethoven: Sonata no 4 in E flat major, op 7 (Grande sonate)
First movement: Allegro molto e con brio
Jonathan Biss, piano

Beethoven: Sonata no 4 in E flat major, op 7
Second movement: Largo, con gran espressione
Jonathan Biss, piano

Beethoven: Piano Concerto no 2 in B flat major
First movement: Allegro con brio
Richard Goode, piano
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Iván Fischer, conductor

Beethoven: Sonata no 4 in E flat major, op 7 (excerpt)
Third movement: Allegro
Jonathan Biss, piano

Beethoven: Sonata no 4 in E flat major, Op 7
Fourth movement: Rondo: Poco allegretto e grazioso
Jonathan Biss, piano