My Journey to Beethoven

For Christian Thielemann, it is the fundamentally human aspect of Beethoven's music that lies at the core of its fascination. With its infinite richness of expression, it traverses the entire cosmos of art. This music feels with us, and that is why we find ourselves in it. Christian Thielemann explains what constitutes the unsurpassed greatness of Beethoven's symphonies, why the composer was unlucky in opera, why the "Missa solemnis" represents for him the peak of Beethoven's creativity. He reflects on good and bad pathos, on Beethoven the sceptic and the big question of how to play his music. The famous Beethoven interpreters appear in his book showing us also the enormous difficulties that every conductor hast to face with Beethoven. This is the book of an artist who, like few people, has looked into Beethoven's workshop and sought the traces of his genius.