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Alan Hacker

Sue Lawley's castaway is composer and conductor Alan Hacker.

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a musician who started his professional career as a clarinettist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

However, when he was 26, Alan Hacker was permanently disabled by a thrombosis on his spinal column. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how, since then, although confined to a wheelchair, he has been determined to prove his disability is not a handicap but just a nuisance. He'll be describing how he has carved out a niche for himself as a conductor, teacher and pioneer in the study of early music and is now a leading guest conductor of the Stuttgart Opera.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: London Symphony by Franz Joseph Haydn
Book: Middlemarch by George Eliot
Luxury: Hovercraft wheelchair with capuccino machine

Available now

40 minutes

Last on

Fri 22 Apr 1994 09:05

Music Played

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Joseph Haydn

      Symphony No. 104 in D major 'London'

      Soloist: Frans Bruggen Orchestra: Orchestra Of The 18th Century

      • Philips.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    La finta giardiniera

    Orchestra: English Northern Sinfonia Conductor: Alan Hacker

  • Harrison Birtwistle

    Hymn to the Sun Interlude

    Artist: Alan Hacker

    • Oiseau Lyre.
  • Bismillah Khan

    Mishra Thumri

    • Bismillah Khan.
    • HMV.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    St John Passion

    Orchestra: Vienna Concentus Musicus Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt

    • Teldec.
  • Tony Coe

    A Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows

    • A Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows.
    • Line.
  • B.J. Thomas

    Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

    • Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid.
    • A & M.
  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria

    Soloist: Rotraut Hansmann Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt

    • Das Alter Werk.
    • Teldec.
  • Book Choice

    • Middlemarch - George Eliot

  • Luxury Choice

    • Hovercraft wheelchair with capuccino machine

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Alan Hacker

Broadcasts

  • Sun 17 Apr 1994 12:15
  • Fri 22 Apr 1994 09:05

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