The awful thing about a conductor becoming geriatric is that you seem to become more desirable, not less.

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

As you know, there are certain languages that lend themselves very easily to vocal use.

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

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

If the (British) Arts Council give you money, they also tell you how to spend it.

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?