Strange: compiles as Annotation but not as a method

Hello,

I have an annotation like this:

@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target(ElementType.TYPE)

public @interface ContextualPath
{
    public Class<? extends MyInterface>[] nodes();
}

Now I define this annotation for a class:

@ContextualPath(nodes = { MyObject.class })
public class Foo
{
}

where MyObject implements MyInterface.

This compiles fine without problem. However it does not compile if
expressed within a method. Compiler errors for method
Bar.getContextualPath1:

* Type mismatch: cannot convert from Class<MyObject> to
Class<MyInterface>
* Cannot create a generic array of Class<MyInterface>

On the contrary, Bar.getContextualPath2 compiles fine.

class Bar
{

    public Class<? extends IModel>[] getContextualPath1()
    {
                               new Class<IModel>[]
{ MyObject.class };
    }

    public Class<? extends IModel>[] getContextualPath2()
    {
                               // compiles without problem
                   return
getClass().getAnnotation(ContextualPathNodes.class).nodes();
    }
}

There seems to be something special with annotations that I don't get.
Most of all I don't understand why it is allowed for an annotation but
not within a class. Would be gratefull if some knowledgeable person
out there could shed some light on this for me.

Thanks, Oliver