The French Revolution is the ultimate modernist statement. Destroy everything. Don't build on the past. There is no past.

I think art can reflect tragedy.

What I think of as style - and I've gotten to this over years of really thinking about it - is that style is the unconscious choices I make.

I find respect for a mediocre British composer, as opposed to a really good American, ridiculous because they automatically respect a composer if he's from England.

I'm glad I won it because when I grew up the Pulitzer was the award that every composer wanted and I was like that too.

I have tremendous respect for film composers.

The French Revolution is the ultimate modernist statement. Destroy everything. Don't build on the past. There is no past.