Michael Nyman

19/12/1999 37 min

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Episode Synopsis

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Michael Nyman. Said to be the best-selling classical composer in Britain, as a child visiting the opera or concert hall his imagination would be caught by a particularly pleasing sequence of notes. Later, he was to use these as inspiration for his own compositions. A Purcell manuscript inspired his music for the The Draughtsman's Contract. Scottish folk songs the soundtrack to The Piano.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Farewell (Das Lied von der Erde (the song of the Earth)) by Gustav Mahler
Book: Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne
Luxury: A toilet

More episodes of the podcast Desert Island Discs: Archive 1996-2000