sirjohn tavener composes music for god, even referring to it as a form of divine dictation.doing so, he has become one of britain's most celebrated living composers. a0 years ago, his work was sometimes dismissed as bland, populist and new age. since then, he has defied the critic the protecting veil was one of the biggest selling classical cds ever. many years ago, he had a heart attack which nearly killed him. since then, everything has changed — his music, his outlook on life and his faith. what happened and how did he change? sirjohn tavener, welcome to hardtal thank you. what happened to your music after you nearly died? it nearly vanished altogether. because i was taken ill in switzerland. they didn't not know whether i was conscious, whether i was brain dead or not. my wife came over from england. she played me mozart and i started conducting, like that. the doctors realised my brain was not dead. i did not become conscious after that. but they realised i reacted to mozart's music. and then when i did become conscious, it seemed that i was so weak. i was in such a poo

sirjohn tavener, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. what happened to your music?t nearly vanished altogether. because i was taken ill in switzerland, and they didn't not know whether i was conscious, whether i was brain dead or not. and my wife came over from england, and she played me mozart, and i started conducting, like that. and the doctors realised my brain wasn't dead. i didn't become conscious after that, but they realised that i reacted to mozart's music. and then, when i did become conscious, it seemed i was so weak, i was in such a poor condition, that it seemed that music had vanished from me completely. i still reacted to it if you played it, but i didn't have any music in my head. which was extraordinary, because all of my life i had music in the head, and it seemed to vanish. and so did my so—called belief in god. well, it did not vanish, but it didn't seem to be there anymore. both the music and the belief in another dimension have always gone together. so i had no music, i had no god, i had nothing. but i was contented, in a sort of way, to be jus