Watch Beethoven, Symphony No. 2 - Claudio Abbado, Berliner Philharmoniker

In 1802, Beethoven's deafness suddenly grew worse, but the work bears no marks of his suffering. Debussy's favourite symphony is bursting with the strength of Beethoven's rhythm. It is, according to the British musicologist Grove, "the high point of the Ancien Regime, of Haydn and Mozart; a point from which Beethoven will go on to explore regions no one before him had ever dreamt of exploring".