Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Suzy Klein presents this week's edition of Music Matters, which features a rare interview with the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt. One of the great musical figures of the 20th and 21st Centuries, renowned as a pioneer in the world of conducting, Harnoncourt was a key player in the development of the 'period performance' of classical, baroque and early music, in particular the music of JS Bach. The conductor is as feisty today as ever – now in his 80s, Harnoncourt is still performing, writing and thinking about music from Bach to Berio, Beethoven to Gershwin. He reveals to Suzy the conductors whose style he hated and why he can’t stand dogma of any sort; his thoughts on those early days of his musical revolution and why he continues today to make demands of his audience.