The Classic FM Friendly Guide to Beethoven

by John Suchet, Darren Henley

The Classic FM Friendly Guide to Beethoven will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about this famous composer, who is consistently in the top five in the Classic FM Hall of Fame (a yearly poll of the nations musical 145,000 listeners took part in 2005). Why was his childhood unhappy? How did his deafness affect him? Who were the women in his life? Who was The Immortal Beloved? What was The Heiligenstadt Testament? While giving all the facts about The Man and The Music, The Classic FM Friendly Guide to Beethoven includes lively and light-hearted features, quotes and anecdotes. There are sections about Beethovens Top 20 hits (with reference to the CD) and about his music in films, and even a Beethoven Mood Chart for when you need to raise or lower your blood pressure. Classic FM, the worlds largest classical music station (9.5 million listeners per month), have teamed up with popular TV journalist and acclaimed Beethoven expert John Suchet and publishers Hodder Arnold to publish this book, which takes its title from a new Friendly Guides on-air feature.

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2006

About the author

John Suchet presents Classic FM's flagship morning programme. His informative style of presentation, coupled with a deep knowledge of classical music, has won a wide spectrum of new listeners to the station. Before turning to classical music, John was one of the UK's best known television newscasters, regularly presenting ITN's flagship News at Ten, as well as all other bulletins, over a period of nearly 20 years. John has been honoured for both roles. He is the author of several bestselling composer biographies, including Beethoven: The Man Revealed.