My week: John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Alastair Sooke speaks to the conductor

[Daily Telegraph, 20 August 2005]

Monday

I am a farmer as well as a musician. Harvest has started on my organic farm in north Dorset, but I needed to work on my scores of Walton's First Symphony, which I'm conducting at the Proms. It's the first time I've done this virtuosic piece and I've spent hours memorising the music. I'm also writing a biography of Bach, which is proving a colossal project. You only need one curveball - like a machine breaking down - and your planning, however well-intentioned, goes down the plughole.

Click here for remainder of article.