The retrospective glance is a relatively easy gesture for us to make.

I have observed, too, that the people of the many countries that I have visited are showing an ever increasing interest in the classical and traditional music of their own cultures.

Unquestionably, our contemporary world of music is far richer, in a sense, than earlier periods, due to the historical and geographical extensions of culture to which I have referred.

Writing seems to be more difficult as you move through the years.

One very important aspect of our contemporary musical culture - some might say the supremely important aspect - is its extension in the historical and geographical senses to a degree unknown in the past.

The development of new instrumental and vocal idioms has been one of the remarkable phenomena of recent music.

This is not a happy time for this kind of music in this country.