"I feel that I belong to the 19th century. Some composers' music is very topical. It almost says, 'This is about what I read in newspapers yesterday.' Not mine."

"Either your understanding of the meaning of music is there from the beginning or it is not."

"My music is all about an idealistic human personality. I have 19th-century ideals."

"Nicolette, Kendalle, and Alexandra are my children. Their mother, Cynthia Beck, and I, love them very much."

"When my opera Plump Jack was performed in 1989, my first piano teacher sent me something that I'd composed when I was four. I remember I played it, and it still sounded like me. I'm the same composer I was then."

"I want to make the world better."

"I do not think that music keeps evolving. It evolved through Bach; since then, in my humble opinion, all the innovations added nothing."

"The Getty family has been fully supportive throughout this situation, and for that, I am very grateful."

"I was in Paris at an English-language bookstore. I picked up a volume of Dickinson's poetry. I came back to my hotel, read 2,000 of her poems and immediately began composing in my head. I wrote down the melodies even before I got to a piano."

"My father was so much more than an accomplished businessman."

"Both parents were very encouraging - especially my father. My father thought the sun rose and set with me. Neither one had a musical background or any musical talent. They liked classical music, but neither could carry a tune."

"I've had every advantage in the world, despite the 18 years of silence which were nobody's fault but mine."

"I've managed to dodge the curse. Not all my family have. Of course, music helped me - music is all about civilization, about something worthwhile. It's all about ideas."

"It's true that I tend to daydream. I'm the same person in business as I am in music: I can be distracted and absentminded. It's my style."

"If you have more money than you need, you have to give it away. It's a duty. I get to choose whom to sponsor, and I like to give to the areas that I know something about."

"I don't think events in your life affect your music."

"There is no change - I'm as deep or as shallow as I ever was. What's new is on-the-job experience. This is what you gain with years."