The rhythms of nature - the sounds of wind and water, the sounds of birds and insects - must inevitably find their analogues in music.

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

It is easy to write unthinking music.

Perhaps many of the perplexing problems of the new music could be put into a new light if we were to reintroduce the ancient idea of music being a reflection of nature.

As interesting as that music can occasionally be, I don't think it really replaces the other.

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.

Although technical discussions are interesting to composers, I suspect that the truly magical and spiritual powers of music arise from deeper levels of our psyche.