Welcome to the Arcana Beethoven Experience!

2020 saw the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the true music greats.

Arcana decided to put on the specs for some 2020 Beetho-vision, and spent some of the year beginning a complete run-through of the composer’s entire output, from piano pieces he wrote at the age of 12. Since then we have encountered three of the symphonies and are heading for the late, great string quartets and Missa Solemnis, 57 years later.

With nearly 500 works to enjoy and appraise, we will be getting the viewpoints of people who perform the music, who record it, who live with it – and hopefully, those who haven’t experienced it yet.

For those of you who love numbers, that means 9 symphonies, 5 piano concertos, 17 string quartets, 12 violin sonatas, 5 cello sonatas, 32 piano sonatas and – wait for it – around 150 folk song settings!

There will be interviews with people from across the arts marking the occasion in the way they know best – writing, playing, listening and recording.

part of Gustav Klimt‘s Beethoven-Frieze (1901)

The project led up to Beethoven by way of composers known to have influenced him. We spent time with the music of J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Haydn and Mozart – and with some lesser names too, enjoying music to come out of 18th century Mannheim, as well as Salieri and one of Beethoven’s teachers, Albrechtsberger.

Keep coming back to Arcana for regular updates, and please do join in with the listening and discussion, because this is all about celebrating great music together. It’s going to be quite a ride.

As a taster, have a listen to one of the greatest Beethoven records ever made to get you in the mood!

Ben Hogwood,
editor, Arcana