I hope my recordings of my own works won't inhibit other people's performances. The brutal fact is that one doesn't always get the exact tempo one wants, although one improves with experience.

If a literary man puts together two words about music, one of them will be wrong.

The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.

Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.

If you want to know about the Sixties, play the music of The Beatles.

A great symphony is a man-made Mississippi down which we irresistibly flow from the instant of our leave-taking to a long forseen destination.

Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness - I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.