John Suchet talks to Gwenan Edwards

Former television journalist-turned Classic FM presenter John Suchet explains how the Strauss family took Europe by storm in the 19th century.

Suchet shows how two generations of the Strauss family came from nowhere to produce hundreds of enduring melodies such as The Blue Danube Waltz, Tales from the Vienna Woods, Voices of Spring and The Radetzky March. He describes a family living in an era of major upheaval and one that was also beset by tension, feuds and jealousies. Suchet shows how, throughout this chaotic period, the Strauss family composed waltzes that Austrian families danced and drank champagne to as their country headed towards World War I.

Suchet is an award-winning television journalist who covered events such as the Iran revolution and the Soviet investigation of Afghanistan for ITV and presented News at Ten. He now presents Classic FM’s flagship morning programme and is recognised as a leading authority on Beethoven. He has published six books on Beethoven including a biography, Beethoven: The Man Revealed.

Here he talks to BBC news presenter and journalist Gwenan Edwards, whose credits include the BBC Proms, Wales at Six on ITV, and Newsroom South East and Watchdog on BBC1.

In association with the Woodstock Music Society.

Sponsored by Rosewood Hotels.