Any asshole can write a tone-row. It takes a composer to write a tune.

Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time... The wait is simply too long.

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

Mozart combines serenity, melancholy, and tragic intensity into one great lyric improvisation. Over it all hovers the greater spirit that is Mozart's - the spirit of compassion, of universal love, even of suffering - a spirit that knows no age, that belongs to all ages.

It would be nice to hear someone accidentally whistle something of mine, somewhere, just once.

The gift of imagination is by no means an exclusive property of the artist; it is a gift we all share; to some degree or other all of us, all of you, are endowed with the powers of fantasy.

Which of my Jewish roots do I follow?