I'm not an architectural composer.

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.

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 opera tells the story with all the built-in contradictions and from many different angles.

My attitude to writing is like when you do wallpapering, you remember where all the little bits are that don't meet. And then your friends say: It's terrific!

My operas usually come from musical ideas rather than ideas about subject matter.

I think music has gone through a period of something very severe, rather radical, rather the way painting did with cubism.