<DIV><P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 13.5pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none">The second volume of John Suchet's compelling trilogy about the life of Ludwig van Beethoven depicts the composer at the height of his powers, famous throughout Europe, championed by wealthy patrons, sought out by other musicians, yet all the time beset by the great tragedy of his life?his deafness?and struggling to come to terms with it. Beethoven unveils the towering works of the so-called heroic period?including the Eroica Symphony, the Fifth, the Pastoral Symphony, the Emperor Concerto, the Appassionata Sonata, the Kreutzer Sonata?as he receives the adulation of the audience and struggles alone in the middle of the night to hear the great music he is creating. </P></DIV>