I have friends who have a CD mastering plant in Hollywood and they are very sceptical about European record labels' understanding of digital technology.

I currently spend a lot of time thinking about orchestration and every detail of a piece.

Somehow in the 20th Century an idea has developed that music is an activity or skill which is not comprehensible to the man in the street. This is an arrogant assertion and not necessarily a true one.

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

It's rather like attending a university seminar where you are talking to a few gifted specialists who deliver a paper to an audience of their peers. That's one way of making music.

I remember once, when I started writing for the alto saxophone, a saxophonist told me to think of it as being like a cross between an oboe and a viola, but louder.

There's another way of making music, by touching the lives and feelings of ordinary people.