It it's true that fastidiousness and attention to detail is very much in my genes - if you knew my parents, you'd see that this is something I've inherited, only doubly so.

The feelings of being in the audience and being on the podium are very far apart. When you're onstage and something goes wrong, you can do something about it. In the audience, you just have to sit there, and if it's a disastrous performance, I'm the one that gets blamed.

When I lose direction, it becomes very hard to write. I actually get a physical pain, as if my subconscious knows better. That may sound mystical and pretentious, but it's true.

I get nervous before I conduct a concert, but then you just go out there and do it.

I always say that I can help someone who can already compose, but if they can't, I can't help them. I can advise on technical issues, of course, like how low the piccolo can go, but otherwise what's important is not wisdom but enthusiasm.

It it's true that fastidiousness and attention to detail is very much in my genes - if you knew my parents, you'd see that this is something I've inherited, only doubly so.

Concerts are dangerous because anything can happen - which is one of the joys as well.