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Brian Kay presents Brian Kay's Light Programme and 3 For All.  He is also well known as a conductor,  particularly of choral music. 
Here he shares his memories of Beethoven's music, and makes some of his own listening recommendations.

"I must have been about twelve years old when my boarding school music master took me to an orchestral concert in the North Wales town of Rhyl. I can still recall the impact of hearing the Eroicasymphony for the first time - those horn calls in the Scherzo almost literally pinning me to the back of my seat.

If I fast forward to 1967, I find myself sitting among the ranks of the John Alldis Choir enjoying one of my first experiences as a professional singer, as a back-row bass on Otto Klemperer's recording of the Choral Fantasia, with pianist Daniel Barenboim and the New Philharmonia - another extraordinary and unforgettable experience, performing such music under the baton of one of the great Beethoven conductors of yesteryear (although, in fact, Klemperer didn't use a baton!).

More recently I can well remember being marooned on a motorway long enough to hear the whole of John Eliot Gardiner's recording of that same Eroica (though sounding very different!) on Radio 3. As a founder member of the Monteverdi Choir back in 1964, I've never been so pleased to be stuck in traffic!

One of my first guests when I presented Radio 4's Comparing Notes was John Suchet, whose fascinating 3-volume novel about Beethoven excited not only me but also his fellow-guest John Lill.

One of the rivetting things about Beethoven is how listening to his music constantly changes, and has done so dramatically during my lifetime. I was brought up on Karajan and the Berlin Phil, and might have found the likes of Gardiner, Norrington and Rattle a hefty gear change - as indeed they were. The important thing has always been how Beethoven - like Bach and Handel - survives almost any kind of treatment. The music is the thing, and the way it stimulates so many different reactions in both performers and listeners. So the thought of wall-to-wall Beethoven for an entire week on Radio 3 is mouth-watering indeed."

Here are some of Brian's favourite Beethoven recordings:

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Daniel Barenboim / NPO / Otto Klemperer
EMI CDM 5 67329-2

Symphonies and
Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique / John Eliot Gardiner
Archiv 447 050-2


Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau / Jorg Demus
DG 415 189-2


Collegium Musicum 90 / Richard Hickox
Chandos CHAN 0703


Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen / Daniel Harding
Virgin VC5 45364-2