I did my work slowly, drop by drop. I tore it out of me by pieces.

Music, I feel, must be emotional first and intellectual second.

I did my work slowly, drop by drop. I tore it out of me by pieces.

I begin by considering an effect.

I do not ask for my music to be interpreted, but only for it to be played.

You might lose your spontaneity and, instead of composing first-rate Gershwin, end up with second rate Ravel.

Remember that I wrote a pavane for a dead princess, and not a dead pavane for a princess!