I currently spend a lot of time thinking about orchestration and every detail of a piece.

There's another way of making music, by touching the lives and feelings of ordinary people.

The academic area of new music or modern music festivals is not something which attracts me at all.

Still, American composers working in France have had a pretty hard time.

I have friends who have a CD mastering plant in Hollywood and they are very sceptical about European record labels' understanding of digital technology.

Similarly you can make a transition from one set of instruments to another imperceptibly.

I am writing something which I find satisfying and which I am prepared to put my name to as a composer.

Music history has flowed under the bridges for many years.

I remember once, when I started writing for the alto saxophone, a saxophonist told me to think of it as being like a cross between an oboe and a viola, but louder.

Writing tonal music now, you are not writing into the 19th Century.

It's rather like attending a university seminar where you are talking to a few gifted specialists who deliver a paper to an audience of their peers. That's one way of making music.

One thing an exceptional employee never says is, 'That's not in my job description.' Exceptional employees work outside the boundaries of job descriptions.

Some people like you, some people don't. In the end you just have to be yourself.

Time management is the key. Although it seems hectic, as long as you manage your time properly you can get everything done.

Cause I enjoy both, I enjoy recording and playing live, but yeah, the rush of playing live is really something.

Most true believers, when faced with evidence that contradicts their beliefs, will hold on to those beliefs even more strongly.

Wealth and power don’t go together. Power cannot be brokered. To me, power is responsibility.

I am going to fight - I, a socialist and Syndicalist - so that we shall make an end to war, so that the little ones of France will sleep in peace, and the women go without fear.

If the world ever advances beyond what it is today, it must be led by men who express their real opinions.

Be careful of success; it has a dark side.