To come to grips with creativity, I must ask creative, adventurous questions - the kind which, in all likelihood, cannot be answered.

To me, Mozart is our Shakespeare, the one who wrote the most dramatic, psychologically most baffling music. He combined ideas that no one else would have thought of putting together.

The fact that Stravinsky used the classics as a major influence is obvious. What is interesting is how he used them, how he turned Bach into Stravinsky.

Most people think an artist tries to be original, but originality is the last thing that develops in the artist.

As I sit down and start to work, I often panic. I stare at the empty piece of music paper. How can I say that my piece will be ready for performance next January when I do not have a recipe for making it happen?

I don't dare postulate about science, but I know that it takes both emotion and intellect in order for art to happen.

I strongly suggest that we play down basics like who influenced whom, and instead study the way the influence is transformed, in other words: how the artist made it his own.