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.

What was once underground is now coming to the surface.

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.

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.

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.