Classic music somehow changed, and it changed between the first and the second world wars, and somehow what happened was that the hero that had been the composer, the hero now was the performer, and especially the conductor.

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

The music I turn out these days is the kind of music I want to hear myself.

There is such a suspicion in today's world of people who do more than one thing, who aren't specialized.

I feel very free and very happy to be a composer.

Stravinsky is masterly: his harmony is conceived so precisely that it can only be the way it is.

If I were in a position to announce a public competition to coin a new word, I would do so right now.