I can't live one day without hearing music, playing it , studying it , or thinking about it .

I'm not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself. I want it to sound like the composer.

Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution - the 60's comes from it.

Life without music is unthinkable.

I believe in people. I feel, love, need and respect people above all else, including natural scenery, organized piety and nationalistic superstructures. One human figure on the slope of a mountain can make the mountain disappear for me, one person fighting for truth can disqualify for me the entire system which had dispensed it.

Success is all very well as long as you don't inhale.

When I am with composers, I say I am a conductor. When I am with conductors, I say I am a composer.