A Great Symphony Is A

The Inspired Moment May Sometimes Be Described As A Kind Of Hallucinatory State Of Mind: One Half Of The Personality Emotes And Dictates While The Other Half Listens And Notates. The Half That Listens Has Better Look The Other Way, Had Better Simulate A Half Attention Only, For The Half That Dictates Is Easily Disgruntled And Avenges Itself For Too Close Inspection By Fading Entirely Away.

For Me, The Most Important Thing Is The Element Of Chance That Is Built Into A Live Performance. The Very Great Drawback Of Recorded Sound Is The Fact That It Is Always The Same. No Matter How Wonderful A Recording Is, I Know That I Couldn't Live With It--even Of My Own Music--with The Same Nuances Forever.

Inspiration May Be A Form Of Superconsciousness, Or Perhaps Of Subconsciousness - I Wouldn't Know. But I Am Sure It Is The Antithesis Of Self-consciousness.

When I Speak Of The Gifted Listener, I Am Thinking Of The Nonmusician Primarily, Of The Listener Who Intends To Retain His Amateur Status. It Is The Thought Of Just Such A Listener That Excites The Composer In Me.

There Is Something About Music That Keeps Its Distance Even At The Moment That It Engulfs Us. It Is At The Same Time Outside And Away From Us And Inside And Part Of Us. In One Sense It Dwarfs Us, And In Another We Master It. We Are Led On And On, And Yet In Some Strange Way We Never Lose Control.