The virtuoso element in jazz playing, all those very fast runs in the upper extremes, simply doesn't appeal to me. That's why I don't want to make my concerto "virtuosic" in the sense of a technical show-off. I want a beautiful sound and a melodic and lyrical line. I am more interested in the way someone can play musically.

Still, American composers working in France have had a pretty hard time.

The virtuoso element in jazz playing, all those very fast runs in the upper extremes, simply doesn't appeal to me. That's why I don't want to make my concerto "virtuosic" in the sense of a technical show-off. I want a beautiful sound and a melodic and lyrical line. I am more interested in the way someone can play musically.

I know that John Adams has had a very hard time directing French ensembles.

I am writing something which I find satisfying and which I am prepared to put my name to as a composer.

I work very fast, keeping the ideas flowing but making sure they come out the way I intended.

Writing tonal music now, you are not writing into the 19th Century.