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

Orchestras have become used to the emphasis on the separation of layers, of the ultimate precision and clarity.

I was starting a group of musicians and we had a group of young composers in Finland back in the '70s, and the real conductors, the professional conductors at the time were not interested in our stuff.

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

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.

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.

There was this kind of mildly annoying mythology about conductor Like biker should riding a Harley-Davidson on an LP cover, and wearing a sort of a leather suit.