For regular listeners and newcomers alike, a story in four movements – just like a symphony – reveals the man, his language and the major works of the most frequently executed musical repertoire in the world.

One of Italy’s best-known musical talents explains the extreme modernity and enduring success of Beethoven through the original lens of listening, in a fascinating account of the elemental categories of his musical philosophy (time, space, memory and contrast). Bietti explores the complicated rapport between the composer’s art and life, the historical and social context in which he lived, and his hearing loss, an experience that would dramatically mark his later years. An incredibly innovative composer, who had his own special language and who dedicated himself for over fifteen years to popular music, Beethoven produced scores of marvellous arrangements of pieces from every corner of Europe, developing the first multicultural project in history. As many-sided as its protagonist, the book contains a lengthy section on his music: the works for piano and orchestra, the Nine Symphonies, the Quartets, the visionary pieces and the extraordinary late works. The appendix offers some in-depth, more specialist, analyses of a number of his most important works, and a well-stocked glossary explains and clarifies most of the technical terms used. The text is accompanied by audio musical clips composed for the piano and commented on by the author.