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Donald Macleod is joined by Rachel Nicholls to explore Beethoven’s writing for the voice.

Throughout this week, Donald Macleod meets with different professional musicians to get a performer's eye view of Beethoven’s music and the challenges it presents.

During Beethoven’s life, great technical advances were being made to musical instruments such as the keyboard and the horn. It was also a period when virtuoso musicians of all kinds began to tour Europe and Beethoven was able to meet some of the greatest exponents of different instruments and learn from them. He was inspired to push the limits of his performers as never before, and his works continue to fascinate and challenge musicians today.

Today Donald Macleod is joined by Rachel Nicholls to explore Beethoven from the perspective of a singer. Rachel shares her experience of what it’s like to sing the role of Leonore in Fidelio, and also Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, including the difficulties associated with Beethoven’s athletic vocal writing. Donald and Rachel also explore the impact the 20-year-old vocalist Anna Milder had on the music of Beethoven.

Composer of the Week is returning to the story of Beethoven’s life and music throughout 2020 as part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Unleashed season marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

Fidelio, Act 1 No 1-3
Angela Denoke (Leonore), soprano
Laszlo Polgar (Rocco), bass
Juliane Banse (Marzelline), soprano
Rainer Trost (Jaquino), tenor
Arnold Schoenberg Choir
Berlin Philharmonic
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

Fidelio, Act 2 No 12
Jessye Norman (Leonore), soprano
Kurt Moll (Rocco), bass
Chor der Staatsoper Dresden
Staatskapelle Dresden
Bernard Haitink, conductor

Fidelio, Act 2 No 14-15
Ekkehard Wlaschiha (Don Pizarro), bass-baritone
Jessye Norman (Leonore), soprano
Reiner Goldberg (Florestan), tenor
Kurt Moll (Rocco), bass
Chor der Staatsoper Dresden
Staatskapelle Dresden
Bernard Haitink, conductor

Missa Solemnis, Op 123 (Agnus Dei)
Lucy Crowe, soprano
Jennifer Johnston, mezzo
James Gilchrist, tenor
Matthew Rose, bass
Monteverdi Choir
Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique
Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

Produced by Luke Whitlock for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales.