I write music to please myself. Hopefully the director's enjoying it too.

Conducting, I tried it once off the cuff, and quickly realized there were subtle aspects that I was missing. There is a lot more to it that I was able to grasp simply by watching conductors.

I like the fact that New York looks a bit backwards, toward the Old World, rather than resolutely forwards.

When the systems we expect to help us actually hurt us, we have tragedy.

Los Angeles is an industry town, and it has great facilities and personnel. The disadvantage is that everyone there seems to talk about the same subject matter.

I almost never try to make the audience comfortable. I wouldn't want that if I were in the audience.

Music is the subliminal connecting adhesive in film, or at least in narrative feature films.