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Donald Macleod explores the world Beethoven lived in, bringing together the best bits of interviews featured throughout Composer of the Week's major focus on Beethoven on the 250th anniversary of his birth.

Composer of the Week has this year, every alternate week, explored the life and work of Ludwig van Beethoven, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of his birth. In this, the final week of 25 series devoted to the extraordinary composer, Donald Macleod looks back over the year, and presents his personal highlights from the interviews he carried out over the course of 125 programmes. From historian Simon Schama to conductors Marin Alsop and John Eliot Gardiner, and pianists Jonathan Biss and Angela Hewitt, Donald was joined by experts and performers who gave remarkable insights into the unique human being that was Beethoven. This week he brings together some of the conversations that stayed with him, building a picture of Beethoven the man, the composer, the interpretation of his music since his death, the times he lived in, and what he means to us today.

In Donald Macleod's penultimate programme on Beethoven this year, he revisits highlights from conversations he's had with guests about the ideas that framed Beethoven's world: a world riven by war, conflict and revolution, during a time of far-reaching and profound social change.

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

Wind Octet in E flat, Op 103 - 1st movement: Allegro and 2nd movement: Andante
Sabine Meyer Bläserensemble

Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur, Op 48 No 4 (The Heavens are Telling)
Norman Luboff Choir
New Symphony Orchestra of London
Leopold Stokowski, conductor

Symphony No 3 in E flat, Op 55 (Eroica) - 2nd movement: Marcia funebre. Adagio assai)
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Piano Trio Op 1 No 3 in C minor - 4th movement: Prestissimo
Sitkovetsky Trio