Film music should have the same relationship to the film drama that somebody's piano playing in my living room has on the book I am reading.

Art postulates communion, and the artist has an imperative need to make others share the joy which he experiences himself.

The performance of performance has developed to such an extent in recent years that it challenges the music itself and will soon threaten it with relegation.

I knew I had to write a Mass of my own, but a real one.

A good composer does not imitate; he steals.

The trick is to compose what one wants to compose and to get it commissioned afterward.

All music is nothing more than a succession of impulses that converge towards a definite point of repose.