Quickfire: acclaimed composer Michael Nyman, who tours the UK next month, explains how going it alone is the best way to make it in classical music.(Forum)(Interview)

Why did you decide to embark on your first solo tour now?

It's the first time that I've done something like a rock musician, which is to go on tour to promote an album. I'm releasing The Piano Sings on my own MN Records, which is a collection of work from several films. I think the album is very strong and playing it live is a great marketing tool. Also, it'll be just me and a piano, so it gives audiences who've been listening to me for years a chance to hear a different voice, because most of these songs have never been heard as solo piano works. When I work, most things start as piano pieces and build from there into the sort of things you hear on Wonderland, so this is a way of restoring the original scale and modesty.

But The Piano Sings isn't the only thing you're bringing out this year.

By the time the tour starts, there will be three releases through the label, and we'll be looking to release five or six by the end of the year.

Why did you decide to establish your own label?

I've been releasing albums since 1976 and had contracts with all majors apart from Sony. There's a certain amount of frustration, because I'm incredibly prolific and like to bring out lots of releases within a short space of time, whereas record companies like to have one release out and then flog it to death, but classical artists can't work that way. I'm bringing out the soundtrack to The Libertine, starring Johnny Depp and John Malkovich, and I think it will be the most exiting score since The Piano and there's no way I'd want a major label to say "I don't want an opera release out at the same time". It's a much more logical extension of what I do as a composer than being in a big conglomerate where you have two weeks of marketing spend behind you and then you're on your own.

How difficult was the process of starting a label?