Hello, I'm Krestey Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1994, and the presenter was Sue Lawley. My castaway this week is a

musician. He began his professional life as a clarinetist with the London Philharmonic, but at the age of 28 he was permanently disabled by a thrombosis on his spinal column.

Although confined to a wheelchair, he's been determined to prove that his disability isn't a handicap just a nuisance and that's what he's done teaching conducting and forming his own musical groups.

A pioneer in the study of early music as well as a passionate

fan of Mozart, he's also a leading guest conductor of Stuttgart Opera. He is

Alan Hacker. In fact reading reading about your career, Alan, it almost seems as if it's been

perhaps richer and more varied as a result of your being disabled. Do you think there's some truth in that or is that... I think it's very true actually.

After all, it's quite possible that although playing in an orchestra is very glorious,

I still might be doing that. I mean, I had to leave the LPO because of my disability

and that meant I got involved with my own groups and then I had time, you see I've been principal clarinets of a major

London orchestra I could have only really have done that so you were forced into

into discovering a new kind of freelance career really?

Yes, I'm forced actually. I mean I've enjoyed it, you know, it's been terrific.

It gets better and better.

But you might never have perhaps tried conducting or felt that you could

if you hadn't in the end set up your own groups and... Yes, it's quite possible, yes. But obviously

music is a very fundamental part of your life.

Yes, it most certainly has been a lifeline to me.

How difficult was it then sorting out these eight records?

I mean, presumably as impossible as all

...