Iain Quinn: What is your perception of Ian's knowledge of classical music?

Michael Berkeley: Well, I think Ian's knowledge is fuelled very much by his passion for music and in particular for Bach, who he sees as supreme. This is informed in part by the fact that he has played the flute and did when I first knew him and still does, I think. The passion is very evident in that he goes to a lot of concerts, particularly chamber music and particularly in the Wigmore Hall which he loves. In fact, we wrote the Three Cabaret Songs [2013] together, one of which is about the Wigmore Hall. I think music is pretty central to his life and that he feels, in the famous adage, ‘art should aspire’. I’ve always found that after he's been to a concert he talks about it with real knowledge and authority. I don't think he's interested in great huge symphonies or the avantgarde. It's not really his sensibility. On the other hand, some friends of mine saw him at a Wynton Marsalis jazz concert recently. Jazz he certainly likes and we even thought about doing an opera on Chet Baker at one point and so his interests are pretty wide and they are informed by a kind of fascination with the workings of music. One of the things he always said to me when we were working together was that he just loved working with musicians. I think he’s really fascinated about how they come together, how they interact, how they speak in dialogue which I supposed he's very interested in as a novelist. I think he was largely self-taught and it was something he felt passionate about. It’s more to do now with the living experience. He’ll go frequently to hear Angela Hewitt and Andras Schiff play Bach. He's completely obsessed with it. Some of these people have become friends of his and so that has doubled or tripled the effect of the music. People will go and play at his house. So, music is central to him.