I wrote music as soon as I knew notation.

It's the irrational things that interest me.

I'm not a music lover in the sense that I look for something to have on. I've never had that attitude to music.

There are rhythmic ideas which sometimes only work up to a point. In writing there are moments when it just comes off the page, it's not just a collection of notes.

The theatre only knows what it's doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: 'What are we going to do in five years' time?' A completely different attitude.

This sounds horribly pretentious, but I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it.

The piece that had a large influence on me was Turangalila.