Beethoven: The Man Revealed

Presented by John Suchet

Beethoven’s life is one of passion, complexities and incomparable creativity. In this inspiring and in-depth presentation, John Suchet explores the man behind his great music. The man who struggled to continue his profession against increasing deafness, who alienated friends with unprovoked outbursts of anger one moment and excessive kindness and generosity the next. And all set against a backdrop of his city submitting to the chaos of war with France.

John Suchet is accomplished radio and television presenter, author and journalist. Until the summer of 2022 John presented five live shows a week on Classic FM until recently. Prior to that he was one of the country’s most popular television reporters and newscasters. As a reporter for ITN, he covered major events around the world, including the Iran Revolution, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the Philippines Revolution. He then became a newscaster for ITN, presenting all major bulletins including News at Ten and was honoured in both roles.

In John’s early twenties his love affair with Beethoven’s music began and became a lifelong passion. “At first I only knew the angry stuff, dah-dah-dah-daaah. Then I discovered this whole body of beautiful lyrical music that entered my soul and stayed there. And I thought, how did he do that, while at the same time he was going deaf?”

He has written and presented a 52-part series for Classic FM, ‘Beethoven — The Man Revealed’, which ran for a year and is the longest radio series on a single composer ever broadcast.

More about John at www.johnsuchet.co.uk