‘I compose all the time. I’m doing it right now. Yes, consciously.’

I had more reasons for wanting to interview Sir Harrison Birtwistle than any other contributor to this book, the most obvious being that his music still divides opinion so strongly. To some people it's the supposedly selfevident reason why they turn their backs on contemporary music, and yet the number of performances it receives suggests that mainstream audiences have begun to catch up with it. Since it doesn't seem to me unduly ‘difficult’, I suspect that the back-turners’ problem is not with his music in particular but with contemporary music in general. So I was pleased that, in spite of his apparent disregard for what people think of his work, he agreed to be interviewed by me.

I was aware beforehand that he's one of the most significant figures in British musical life and that it's important not to waste his time; he rightly expects interviewers to know their stuff and to ask him intelligent questions. But when we met at his home in Wiltshire in October 2013 and started to chat across his kitchen table, I was reassured: he explained that what he was going to say might not make a lot of sense, in which case together we would have to make it make sense.

Perhaps my first question – whether he really doesn't care about the public's response to his music – couldn't be classed as ‘intelligent’, but he seemed dismissive about my reasons for wanting to include him in this book. When I explained my hope that a record of personal encounters with composers talking about their music would encourage the reader to investigate their work, adding that this hope sprang from my desire to share the excitement of musical discovery, he replied that he couldn't say anything that would persuade people to listen to his music – and, furthermore, that there was no reason why he should. His logic is indisputable, of course, but the fact remains that most of the other contributors to this book make greater efforts to meet their listeners along the way.

As the interview progressed, his mood alternated between combative and genial, bored and enthusiastic. From time to time each of us felt obliged to justify our point of view – I for asking what I believed were legitimate questions, he for insisting that some of them were unanswerable.