Beethoven

Anguish and Triumph

By: Jan Swafford

Narrated by: Michael Prichard

Length: 39 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

Jan Swafford's biographies have established him as a revered music historian, capable of bringing his subjects vibrantly to life. His magnificent new biography of Ludwig van Beethoven peels away layers of legend to get to the living, breathing human being who composed some of the world's most iconic music.

Swafford mines sources never before used in English-language biographies to reanimate the revolutionary ferment of Enlightenment-era Bonn, where Beethoven grew up and imbibed the ideas that would shape all of his future work. Swafford then tracks his subject to Vienna, capital of European music, where Beethoven built his career in the face of critical incomprehension, crippling ill health, romantic rejection, and "fate's hammer," his ever-encroaching deafness.

©2014 Jan Swafford (P)2015 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Indeed, readers will want to refer to the book often when they listen to Beethoven. A marvelous achievement." ( Booklist)

Beethoven - the man and his music

This is a sad story, but also encouraging as you see how Beethoven struggled through his many physical ailments, tortured by his unrequited loves, but yet wrote some of the most beautiful and passionate music ever heard at his time.

A good listen for the first 4/5 of the book.

Where does Beethoven rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 30%

What was one of the most memorable moments of Beethoven?

His upbring with a an abusive alcoholic father, his musical genius and persistence in getting every note and cord perfect, sometimes taking him weeks to accomplish.

What does Michael Prichard bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Making what could be a tedious read a good listen.

Great book. Terrible narration.

Very poor choice of reader for this book. The voice and affect of the performer are really spoiling it for me. Much as I want to read this, I'm not sure I can take 39 hours of this narrator's voice.

Enjoyable, engrossing.

Would you consider the audio edition of Beethoven to be better than the print version?

This is a wonderfully in depth examination of Beethoven's life and his times. My only complaint is the occasional mispronunciation.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Although impossible, yes.

Mostly for those familiar with Beethoven's music

Any additional comments?

Excellent biography with much attention to Beethoven's music, his compositional style, and the development of his approach to composing. One feels great empathy for Beethoven while acknowledging his flaws as a person. He was both amazingly generous and sometimes quite stingy, sometimes very loyal to friends, other times more of a social misfit.

What I appreciated most was the analysis of the turning points of his career and the detailed discussions of crucial pieces, from their significance in the history of music to more fine grained exploration of details ranging from key signatures to ways Beethoven moved toward and away from other composers, whether Haydn, Mozart, or Bach.

I recommend the book to those who have an equal interest in Beethoven's life and Beethoven's music.

The narrator, Michael Prichard, was very good.

Great in every way, a must for classical music fan

I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book about this remarkable artist. The narrator was outstanding. He removed the barrier between author and listener. It was as if the author was the narrator.

This is not a book for the unlearned (like me)!

I stuck to it. However, I am not a musician, And, I don’t have a degree in any topic related to music composition, theory, or performance. I do enjoy listening to classical music. And, I decided to read (listen) to books about the great composers that wrote that music. So far, I’ve listened to Audible books about JS Bach, Mozart and now Beethoven. I plan to listen to books about Handel, Haydn, and others. What I enjoyed about this book is that the author is clearly a renowned classical music composer and educator. The Author linked both the historical world that Beethoven lived in with the resultant music Beethoven composed; gathering Beethoven’s own life experience together with his music that he wrote. However, I was continually left behind when the author actually got into the weeds about the making of music by Beethoven. That is my issue and not the author’s problem. If I were an undergraduate taking a Music History Course. I would assume I would have to read this book. If that were the case, I would be much more informed. And my rating would be five stars across the board. It is only because of my own limitations that I rated it with four stars “Overall”.

Very Detailed Biography

What did you like best about this story?

The level of details available about his daily life. Letters and manuscripts (many records kept due to conversations written down because of his deafness).

Any additional comments?

I read other reviews that complained about too much musical composition details. I thought that I would still enjoy that part but found myself eventually skipping through those parts as they could only be enjoyed by another composer. I still enjoyed the book and learned much about Beethoven's life which is what I was hoping to learn.

Must read for anyone interested in Beethoven

An in depth look at the life and works of Beethoven, particularly good for the latter. Narrator is clear and the conveys the tone of the author well.

A Gift: Well Conceived, Well Written, Well Read

This is a monumental work that is beautifully written with a pace that moves right along, filling in historical context as needed and holding the reader's attention with vivid description. As always, Michael Prichard's narration is the icing on the cake. He doesn't do funny accents or mispronounce foreign words. He is as expressive as the text requires, but maintains a neutral delivery style that, at least for me, gets out of the way and lets the words' meanings come through. The author clearly sets up the project, giving the reader a sense of what is to come and signaling when he moves from fact to deduction.