Modern classical music can be a big ‘turnoff’, admits composer Mark-Anthony Turnage | Classical music

The famous and controversial British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage says he has realized that modern classical music is a major “turn-off” for many audiences, although he regrets the lack of repetitions of contemporary works.

“What can you do?” Strangely, the pieces I played the most were the ones I thought were least likely to be played again,” he said.

“So you can’t worry about it… I don’t write really difficult modern music, but it’s still not played on Classic FM.”

Speaking candidly to Lauren Laverne as her Desert Island Discs castaway on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday morning, the Essex-born musician also reveals his own close encounters with disgruntled viewers.

Recounting an incident in the men’s toilet at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s South Bank, he says: “I was at the urinal and a guy said to his companion: ‘What twisted person would write that kind of rubbish ?’ I felt like I should raise my hand and say, “It’s me,” but I walked out of the bathroom and back to my seat.

Choosing the music of Igor Stravinsky, Miles Davis and Stevie Wonder for his time on the island, Turnage says attending his own concerts is a challenge. “I’m always afraid that people will be bored. I’ve had a few occasions where I’ve heard people grunting, sitting next to me or in front of me… Then at the end, when I stand up to greet, they are horrified, because they wonder if I heard.

Turnage, 64, also admits that he, too, has difficulty appreciating certain living composers. “I understand it and I struggle with a lot of contemporary classical music – obviously without naming names.

“I remember when GQ listed the biggest “rejects” and contemporary classical music was in first place. And it was my world, so I said to myself: come on, it’s sad.

But he has an explanation: “People feel trapped. If you go to an art gallery and there’s a photo you don’t like, you can just walk away, but if you’re at a concert and sitting in the middle of a row, people are polite and don’t go out. »

But the Ivor Novello and Olivier Award-winning composer also assures Laverne that he “absolutely loves” his work. Among his best-known operas is an adaptation of Steven Berkoff’s play Greekconsidered a key modern piece, and its treatment of the work of Seán O’Casey The Silver Tassiewhich has entered the contemporary classical canon.

He is also famous for the amount of swearing in the lyrics of his operas. His Covent Garden crude opera, based on the sinister life of Playboy Pin-up Anna Nicole Smith caused controversy in 2011. She returned to the Royal Opera House in 2014.

Although Turnage does not write these words, he admits to Laverne that he may have been secretly motivated by a desire to shock his religious parents. “All my operas contain bad swearing, with the exception The Silver Tassie And Coralinemy children’s opera.