You must play for the love of music. Perfect technique is not as important as making music from the heart.

Now I want to use money in a good way. I make foundations back home in Russia, I have sponsored vaccinations for more than one million children in my homeland and I have founded scholarships in the names of my great Russian compatriots - Oistrakh, Richter, Gilels, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Schnittke.

People are craving this great progress in electronics, going after computers, the Internet, etc. It's a giant progress technologically. But they must have a balance of soul, a balance for human beauty. That means art has an important role.

Explain to me, please, why in our literature and art so often people absolutely incompetent in this field have the final word.

Baalbek is so beautiful. It is the heart of beauty in the Middle East - I want to embrace these people with my music. I will try so hard for them. Their president is a Christian, their prime minister is a Muslim. Music is for everyone.

You must play for the love of music. Perfect technique is not as important as making music from the heart.

I would rather have ideas and some difficulties of technique than a perfect technique and no ideas.