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]

Choices

1.

Castaway's favourite

Joseph Haydn

Symphony No. 104 in D major 'London'

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

Others who chose this artist

2.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

La finta giardiniera

Orchestra: English Northern Sinfonia Conductor: Alan Hacker

Others who chose this artist

3.

Sir Harrison Birtwistle

Hymn to the Sun Interlude

Artist: Alan Hacker

Others who chose this artist

4.

Ustad Bismillah Khan

Mishra Thumri

Others who chose this artist

5.

Johann Sebastian Bach

St John Passion

Orchestra: Vienna Concentus Musicus Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Others who chose this artist

6.

B.J. Thomas

Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

Others who chose this artist

7.

Tony Coe

A Kaleidoscope Of Rainbows

Others who chose this artist

8.

Claudio Monteverdi

Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria

Soloist: Rotraut Hansmann Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Others who chose this artist

Book

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Others who chose this author

Luxury item

Hovercraft wheelchair with capuccino machine

Others who chose a similar luxury