I think truth as an idea should be left to the philosophers and perhaps religious leaders and politicians, and professional people who deal with that idea.

With American orchestras, in particular, because they play in such huge halls, getting a true pianissimo is very hard.

I've learned a lot from the masters of orchestration, like Ravel and Stravinsky.

I don't believe in an annual dose of film music for the sake of it being film music. If we program film music, it will be because there is a real artistic reason for doing so.

Of course, if you think of a European or American household in the '50s, so what were the things that when people started climbing up the ladder, what did they buy? A fridge, a TV, I think piano was the number three item in say '53 or '54.

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

When an artist works today or whenever, it's not about creating immortal masterpieces, because that's the one thing we don't decide ourselves.