Right at the end of the war I wrote a piano sonata, which was written at a time when Sam Barber used to come down here and we used to have lunch together in a very nice old hotel that's now not there.

The Third Quartet I made the instruments in pairs - Two different pairs - Violin and viola, and violin and cello. They played very different things from each other all through the whole piece.

My musical life started with hearing and being fascinated by contemporary music.

When I was in Paris, all of the German refugees began to flow in and it was a very sad time.

Talking about a materialistic thing, I get about 13 times more royalties from Europe than I do from America.

Almost every one of my various zero numbered birthdays has had a big concert in London and often in Paris.

The Quartets have been a major part of my work.