I, as a young guy getting out of music school, I didn't like the prospect of spending my life writing music for about 200 people.

What you hear depends on how you focus your ear. We're not talking about inventing a new language, but rather inventing new perceptions of existing languages.

It doesn't need to be imagined, it needs to be written down.

But the difference between the little pieces and the big pieces - I'm not actually sure which are the little pieces. With some of the big pieces, it's a lot of musical running around, whereas the little pieces, you can say everything you want to say.

You practice and you get better. It's very simple.

If you don't have a basis on which to make the choice, then you don't have a style at all. You have a series of accidents.

I shift between mediums very frequently. Instead of taking a break from writing, I just write in a different medium or in a different way or for a different purpose, so that I don't actually stop writing - I just go to something else. Like going from a big symphony to a piano piece is great and very refreshing, I find. And then going from that to a big concerto, and then having to go out and play.