How do you listen to music most often?
iPod on the plane, with noise-cancelling headphones.
What was the first ever record/CD you bought?
Webern’s complete works, conducted by Pierre Boulez.
What was the last piece of music you bought?
Harrison Birtwistle’s The Moth Requiem on Signum Classics.
If you found yourself with six months free to learn a new instrument, what would you choose?
French horn. I’m sure six months would not be enough, however!
What single thing would improve the format of the classical concert?
Shorter concerts.
What’s been your most memorable live music experience as an audience member?
Hearing The Rite of Spring live for the first time, aged 13 in Glasgow.
We’re giving you a time machine: what period, or moment in musical history, would you travel back (or forward!) to and why?
Some of those Beethoven “multiple premieres” concerts would be astonishing to attend – to be there at the start of some of these pieces, regardless of how well they were played, would be incredible.
Do you enjoy musicals? Do you have a favourite?
Depends. The Sunny Afternoon show, based on the story and music of the Kinks, is brilliant, for example. I’d probably skip Les Mis.
Which conductor or performer of yesteryear do you most wish you could have worked with?
What, in your opinion, is the best new piece written in the last half century?
Extremely tough question – there have been too too many. This would include Stravinsky’s era, so I’d pick his Requiem Canticles.
What’s the most overrated classical work?
I am not a fan of the Brahms symphonies, and do indeed think them overplayed, if not essentially overrated.
It’s late, you’ve had a few beers, you’re in a karaoke bar. What do you choose to sing?
Talking Heads’ This Must Be the Place.
Colin Currie performs the world premiere of HK Gruber’s into the open… tonight, Monday 20 July, at the BBC Proms. Box office:0845 401 5040; tickets are available on the day. The concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and available to watch and listen afterwards on iPlayer
