Oliver Knussen
Tom Service in conversation with the composer and conductor Oliver Knussen.
Tom Service talks to the conductor and composer Oliver Knussen at his home in Suffolk. First broadcast in January 2015.
Oliver Knussen (1952-2018) was one of the most widely respected figures in today's classical music world, As a composer, his finely crafted and powerful scores include the operas Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop!, symphonies, concertos for horn and violin, and vocal works including Songs for Sue, written as a requiem for his former wife. Knussen was also a masterful conductor and champion of new music, and an inspirational teacher to younger composers.
In this extended interview, recorded at his Suffolk home in 2015, Knussen talks frankly to Tom about the transformative experiences of his teenage years, when he wrote and conducted his since-withdrawn Symphony No.1 and received commendations from Bernstein, Copland and Britten among others. He discusses his subsequent struggles with self-criticism and his years studying at the Tanglewood Summer School. He also explains the influence of Leopold Stokowski on his conducting, Berg, Stravinsky and Ravel on his music and how he views the current and future health of new classical music..
Last on
Oliver Knussen
This week’s edition of Music Matters is another in our series of in-depth conversations with today’s leading musicians. Tom Service meets the composer and conductor Oliver Knussen at his home in Suffolk.
Born in 1952, Oliver Knussen is one of the most widely respected figures in classical music today. As a composer, his finely crafted and powerful scores include the operas Where the Wild Things Are and Higglety Pigglety Pop!, symphonies, concertos for horn and violin, and vocal works including Songs for Sue, written as a requiem for his former wife. Knussen is in demand as a masterful conductor and champion of new music and is currently Artist-in-Association with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. An inspirational teacher to younger composers, he was also recently appointed as the ’Richard Rodney Bennett Professor of Music' at the Royal Academy of Music.
Olly, as he’s known, talks frankly to Tom about the transformative experiences of his teenage years, when he wrote and conducted his since-withdrawn Symphony No.1 and received commendations from Bernstein, Copland and Britten among others. He discusses his subsequent struggles with self-criticism and his years studying at the Tanglewood Summer School. He also talks about the influence of Leopold Stokowski on his conducting, Berg, Stravinsky and Ravel on his music and how he views the current and future health of new classical music.
More information:
Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Tom Service |
| Interviewed Guest | Oliver Knussen |
Broadcasts
- Sat 17 Jan 2015 12:15±«Óãtv Radio 3
- Mon 15 Jun 2015 22:00±«Óãtv Radio 3
- Mon 9 Jul 2018 22:00±«Óãtv Radio 3
Featured in...
![]()
One-to-ones—Music Matters
In-depth interviews with leading figures in classical music.
![]()
Composers—Music Matters
Leading composers in their own words
![]()
Music Matters Interviews—Music Matters
A collection of interviews from Music Matters on Radio 3
Knock on wood – six stunning wooden concert halls around the world
Steel and concrete can't beat good old wood to produce the best sounds for music.
The evolution of video game music
Tom Service traces the rise of an exciting new genre, from bleeps to responsive scores.
Why music can literally make us lose track of time
Try our psychoacoustic experiment to see how tempo can affect your timekeeping abilities.
Podcast
-
![]()
Music Matters
The stories that matter, the people that matter, the music that matters
