Hello, I'm Krestey Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1999, and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My castaway this week is a composer, born in London, he studied at the Royal Academy and

went on to make his name as a writer of music criticism. But the writing of music

itself was to reclaim him. Mixing scholarship and innovation he's created a new

and exhilarating sound. On the one hand his string quartets, concertos and opera

have attracted the attention of serious music lovers.

On the other, his film scores, including the Draftsman's contract, Prospero's books,

and the piano have encouraged a following from a wider public.

But popularity hasn't brought him acceptance from the musical

establishment. I get angry about how I'm excluded, he says. I'm cast into a

twilight zone. He is Michael Nyman. It's quite a comfortable and lucrative Twilight Zone

though Michael. I mean selling 3 million copies of the album of the piano. I mean does

that help dissipate the anger? I don't know when I said that but it is a exceptionally brilliant twilight zone.

I think it's a twilight zone that most other composers would love to be in.

But it's one of those things basically you want everything.

But why do you think you're cast into it? Who's cast you? Well, that's a very good question. I used to call them the cultural commissars and I think it's the simplest answer

could be that the people that make those choices whether it's programming or commissions, don't like my music, as simple as that.

So it's people at the Royal Opera House, it's people at the ENO, it's people at the BBC.

It could well be, but then there may be other other agendas which is the fact that because the

draughton's contract was so well known because the piano was so well known and

because film music is something which kind of washes over you, people don't bother to listen.

...