Los Angeles is just a more open place. The way L.A. functions is that people give you a forum. They say, Show us what you can do.

This conducting thing happened. In 1983 I was sucked into this international career, which was a very scary experience.

This country, and the West Coast, especially, is bad at preserving any cultural legacy.

Anyone who composes and conducts at the same time is immediately suspect, because he must be faking one or the other.

Somehow, conductor as this superhuman conduit between the masters and the masterpieces and the immortals.

The act of conducting in itself, of waving my arms in the air and being in charge, I didn't miss. I missed the sensual pleasure of being in contact with music.

The underlying process in Northern music tends to be slower and continuous, whatever's happening on the surface; in Southern music the underlying process is always faster.