' Rimsky-Korsakov used to say that he refused to acknowledge any complaints from composers about their hard lot in life. He explained his position thus: Talk to a bookkeeper and he'll start complaining about life and his work. Work has ruined him, it's so dull and boring. You see, the bookkeeper had planned to be a writer but life made him a bookkeeper. Rimsky-Korsakov said that it was rather different with composers. None of them can say that he had planned to be a bookkeeper and that life forced him to become a composer.'

'I always try to make myself as widely understood as possible; and if I don't succeed, I consider it my own fault.'

'For some reason, people think that music must tell us only about the pinnacles of the human spirit, or at least about highly romantic villains. But there are …

I think it is clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth. The rejoicing is forced, created under threat, as in Boris Godunov. It's as if someone were beating …

It got to a point where every script I was being offered involved some kind of nudity. And I had to say to myself, 'Okay, people want to see the girl from 'Who…

I identified with both women. But Emma had a stronger message for the women I want to speak to now- women who work. I wanted to tell them that choosing to work…

Another occupation might have been better.