British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage says that his musical compositions do not get “played much” on classical music radio stations.
The 64-year-old, who has created music for ballets and operas, composed the music for the opera-version of Coraline, based on the novel of the same name by British author Neil Gaiman that was made into a film.
Turnage told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs programme that “there’s a lot of opposition” to modern classical music.
The Ivor Novello-winning composer said: “I remember, like, once reading, I think it was like (in) GQ magazine, where it listed the biggest turn-offs, and contemporary classical music was number one on the list.. And I was like, that was my world, and I was thinking, ‘Oh, come on, that’s sad’.
“I don’t write music… (like controversial composer Karlheinz) Stockhausen, it’s not really, really difficult music, but, still, it doesn’t get played much or at all on Classic FM.”
When asked why he thinks that is, Turnage said: “I think when people are in concerts, I think they’re trapped, or they feel they’re trapped. If you go to an art gallery and there’s a picture you don’t like, you just move away straight away.
“But if you’re in a concert where this music is being played, you’re in the middle of the row, people are polite, they don’t walk out.
“So, I think people feel a bit oppressed by it. I do actually understand it, I have difficulty with a lot of contemporary classical music, obviously naming no names.”
He also said “people are worried about how they should react, how they should behave” at classical concerts, and feel “intimidated”.
Turnage has also composed Up For Grabs, a 25-minute score to be played over a historical Arsenal match, celebrating a win over Liverpool in the 1980s, and operas The Silver Tassie, based on Irish writer Sean O’Casey’s play of the same name, and Anna Nicole, about the life of American model Anna Nicole Smith.
During the interview, he also spoke about the death of his brother, Andy, who died of an overdose, and who he composed the music Elegy For Andy for.
He said that he “still can’t believe it happened” and his death is still “hard”.
Turnage added: “I’ve got a picture of him above my work desk and I look at it… (and) I still think maybe he’s still (around), I don’t know why, Isn’t that ridiculous? I know he’s dead.”
He also said writing music helps his “grief”, including when his teacher and mentor, the composer Oliver Knussen, died at the age of 66 in 2018.
Turnage said: “I write a lot of memorials.. as you get older, you lose friends, and writing pieces about it, or in memory of people, friends and colleagues, is a way of dealing with it, to some extent… I did that with Olly, when he died (in) 2018 I wrote a little piano piece and then expanded it.
“I didn’t really know how to cope with that at all. I found myself crying all the time, but writing pieces… got (it) out of my system, (and) sort of helped.”
Turnage picked up a classical music gong in 2021 at the Ivor Novello Awards and became a CBE for his services to music in 2015.
Desert Island Discs airs at 10am on Sunday on BBC Radio 4.
