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.

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.

I think it's good for the composer to teach because you always have new students and you have to begin at the beginning and make things clear.

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 don't think that the Pulitzer should be given the way it is. I think the competition should be anonymous. I think completely different people would win it if the names were taken off because a lot of it is done on relationships and names.