An exploration of the unswerving artistic vision underlying Beethoven's symphonies, from one of the world's leading scholars of the composer's works.More than any other composer, Beethoven left to posterity a vast body of material that documents the early stages of almost everything he wrote. From this trove of sketchbooks, Lewis Lockwood draws us into the composer's mind, unveiling a creative process of astonishing scope and originality.For musicians and nonmusicians alike, Beethoven's symphonies stand at the summit of artistic achievement, loved today as they were two hundred years ago for their emotional cogency, variety, and unprecedented individuality. Beethoven labored to complete nine of them over his lifetime -- a quarter of Mozart's output and a tenth of Haydn's -- yet no musical works are more iconic, more indelibly stamped on the memory of anyone who has heard them.
