I just wish, maybe, that I'd started conducting earlier. I was about 40 when I started. Apart from that I don't really have any regrets. Is that bad?

Most Beethoven symphonies require 80 or more instruments, and the late romantics even more.

I think the quality of something like the Beveridge, for instance, will have a life of its own.

Mozart has written opera, symphony, sacred and chamber music - not to mention his piano and violin concerti.

Music is a continuum and the modern and avant-garde composers of today will be part of the standard repertoire 30 years from now.

So I've never found there was any particular separation between the two cultures at all, musically speaking.

If we perform the romantic repertoire we need more musicians.