At a young age I was bought an LP of Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra: Variations & Fugue on a Theme of Purcell (1946) by a relative, and never looked back. The piece teaches you about different sections of the orchestra, what they sound like, what they can do and how they can be used together.

Thanks to a first-class music teacher at secondary school (Mr Keith Walters, to whom I shall always be endebted), I was lucky enough to sing with the boys' choir at St Clement Danes School, Chorleywood. We performed Benjamin Britten's Spring Symphony (1949) with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, later recording the piece with the conductor André Previn. It was an experience I shall never forget. Britten's music is evocative of nature and humankind. His timeless forms, tunes and harmonies are based on a sophisticated and unique sense of tonality. I like the way Britten uses chains of thirds in his music.

Britten wrote a great deal and there is much I have still to hear, explore and learn from - particularly his operas. Listen to The Prince of the Pagodas (1956), the recording conducted by Oliver Knussen is superb. Britten's orchestration in this piece at times makes you think you are hearing a gamelan! Extraordinary.