John Sessions | My Music: ‘Beethoven is like Joyce – he takes the detritus of life and turns it into diamonds’

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

In an interview which originally appeared in the July 2004 issue of Gramophone, the late actor and satirist looks for the challenge of music

Register now to continue reading

Thanks for exploring the Gramophone website. Sign up for a free account today to enjoy the following benefits:

Free access to 3 subscriber-only articles per month
Unlimited access to our news, podcasts and awards pages
Free weekly email newsletter

Ruth Bader Ginsburg | My Music: ‘Someone had the bright idea to drop a curtain between those auditioning and the panel, and things changed overnight’

Only the second woman to be appointed to the US Supreme Court, the liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader...

Jon Snow | My Music: ‘In moments of relative despair you will find people playing music – in Syria, in Iraq, in all sorts of places’

The journalist and presenter of Channel 4 News since 1989 reveals how his love of music was...

Derek Walcott | My Music: ‘Even if my knowledge is limited, in terms of appreciation, Mozart swings!’

The Nobel Prize-winning poet on opera writing, music and Caribbean speech melodies

Alexandre Desplat | My Music: ‘At their best, film scores are real music, not background wallpaper, and can work equally well in a concert hall’

Alexandre Desplat on finding the balance between fiction and function

Sir Ralph Kohn | My Music: ‘Bach is the most spiritually divine composer who ever lived’

A pioneering career in the pharmaceutical industry has always gone hand-in-hand with performing as a...

Kamasi Washington | My Music: ‘All music is connected in some way – like the way all people are connected, even if you don’t really acknowledge it’

The saxophonist, composer and bandleader on the links between jazz and classical music, and how he...

Victoria Wood | My Music: ‘I think it’s a big problem if the only people who have access to music lessons are middle-class’

The comedian and playwright on the need for music education and her love of choirs

Alexander Armstrong | My Music: ‘I’m devoted to Choral Evensong. I find the liturgy so beautiful... it’s just such a part of me, I adore it’

From St Mary’s Cathedral to Trinity College, Cambridge, the comedian, actor – and baritone – on the...

John Bercow | My Music: ‘Music was a constant companion in my childhood, especially Mozart’

The Speaker of the House of Commons on music to drive to, and performing in G&S

Gramophone Print

Print Edition

From £6.67 / month

Gramophone Digital Club

Digital Edition
Digital Archive
Reviews Database
Full website access

From £8.75 / month

Gramophone Full Club

Print Edition
Digital Edition
Digital Archive
Reviews Database
Full website access

From £11.00 / month

If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.