Happy 250, Beethoven!

On what is widely regarded as Beethoven's 250th anniversary (we know that he was baptised on 17 December 1770), we've gathered together performances of his works by our artists, in celebration.

Grégoire Pont created this magical live animation of the Symphony No.6, 'Pastoral', for the Artosphere Festival.

François-Xavier Roth conducted Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne in Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony, but there was a rare treat beforehand – Ligeti’s mesmerising Poème Symphonique for 100 metronomes, which leads straight into the symphony. We think Beethoven would have approved!

Elena Urioste and Tom Poster played the slow movement of the Tenth (and final) Sonata for Violin and Piano as part of their epic #UriPosteJukebox 88-day marathon.

The Elias Quartet spent four years focusing on Beethoven’s immense quartet output as part of their ambitious Beethoven Project. Here they are in 2011 playing the Grosse Fuge at Wigmore Hall and you can also follow their visit to Beethoven’s house to research for their project.

Marc-André Hamelin plays Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.23 in F minor, Op.57, ‘Appassionata’, in a programme that also includes Feinberg and Schumann.

From Lockdown, here is Aleksey Semenenko playing the Sonata for Violin and Piano No.8 with Sam Haywood – over the internet.

Pavel Kolesnikov performs the Piano Sonata in G, Op.14 No.2 – this is from his time as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.

Paul Lewis performed Beethoven’s titanic Diabelli Variations in his recent Wigmore Hall recital, preceded by Haydn.