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Pianist Jonathan Biss shares the wonder of Beethoven's piano sonatas with Donald Macleod. Today they focus on music that seems to be drawn from Beethoven's soul, the Appassionata.

Biss has just completed a nine-year odyssey to record all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas. It's been a revelatory experience, and his relationship with Beethoven remains far from over. These works are so remarkable, he says, they changed the course of musical history, and beyond that as a performer, they demand that he continues to play them for the rest of his life.

Recorded at the piano, in the Angela Burgess Recital Hall at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Jonathan shares his life-long passion for Beethoven with Donald. As they talk, he demonstrates how and why Beethoven's piano sonatas advanced the genre far beyond anything that anyone had ever achieved previously. As they talk each day we will gain a performer's perspective of Beethoven's developmental trajectory. Together they'll unpack some of Jonathan's personal favourites, among them the Appassionata, the Tempest, No 27 in E minor op 90 and No 30 in E major op 109.

1801 saw the start of a period of great personal anguish for Beethoven. Beset by problems on all fronts, little wonder that some of his innermost feelings found an outlet in his music.

Beethoven: Piano sonata no 15 in D op 28 (Pastorale)
Third movement: Scherzo: Allegro vivace
Richard Goode, piano

Beethoven: Sonata no 17 in D minor, op 31 no 2 (The Tempest)
Second movement: Adagio
Jonathan Biss, piano

Beethoven: Sonata no 23 in F minor op 57 (Appassionata)
First movement: Allegro assai
Jonathan Biss, piano

Beethoven: Sonata no 23 in F minor op 57 (Appassionata)
Second movement: Andante con moto
Third movement: Allegro ma non troppo
Jonathan Biss, piano

Beethoven: Sonata no 21 in C major, op 53 (Waldstein)
Third movement: Rondo. Allegretto moderato - Prestissimo
Paul Lewis, piano