Facing the music: Helen Grime

Vinyl or digital?

Digital. I love being able to discover new pieces and get hold of them very quickly.

What was the first record or cd you bought?

Perlman’s recordings of the Berg and Stravinsky violin concertos.

... and the most recent?

George Benjamin’s Duet for Piano and Orchestra/Written on Skin.

What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

I love Burt Bacharach songs but don’t feel guilty about it.

If you had time learn a new instrument, what would it be?

Probably the violin – for composer inside knowledge, but I’ve also always wanted to play the baroque oboe and perform in Bach cantatas.

Did you ever consider a career outside of music? Doing what?

Up until my early teens I had aspirations as an artist, illustrator or archaeologist.

What single thing would improve the format of the classical concert?

A start time of 6.30pm so that it’s possible to enjoy a good meal afterwards.

If you had to pick one work to introduce someone to the wonders of classical music, what would it be?

That’s a difficult one, but I’ll never forget the visceral energy and joy I felt on first hearing Janáček’s Sinfonietta. It’s irresistibly engaging and moving music.

What or where is the most unusual place/venue you’ve performed?

Some years ago, I wrote a piece for 100 violas that was performed at Edinburgh zoo!

We’re giving you a time machine: what period, or moment in musical history, would you travel to and why? 

Probably sometime around the end of 1914 – there were so many exciting musical developments going in different directions.

 What’s the most overrated classical work? – ie is there a warhorse whose appeal you really don’t relate to?

Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

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Which non-classical musician would you like to work with?

Björk

What do you sing in the shower?

Usually whatever’s bothering me in the piece I’m writing at that time. That or the theme tune of my son’s favourite programme.

Helen Grime is Wigmore Hall Composer in Residence. Her Piano Concerto gets its world premiere there on 3 March 2017, performed by Huw Watkins and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group under Oliver Knussen.