Well when I was young, when I was very young, when I was a little boy I don't remember the music I heard, but there was an article in the Brooklyn Daily written by my Aunt about how I could choose phonograph records.

Silences between movements are employed only in order to bring the opposing duo to the fore.

Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe.

The Quartets have been a major part of my work.

The first thing that struck me about contemporary music in general had been thatthere was not much interest in rhythm.

Why write for the orchestra? For one thing it's a very challenging problem.

That was one of the big problems when I was at Harvard studying music. We had to write choral pieces in the style of Brahms or Mendelssohn, which was distressing because in the end you realized how good Brahms is, and how bad you are.