The London music world isn't a particularly cohesive place. And when I'm composing, I'm not very friendly. I need isolation.

I get nervous before I conduct a concert, but then you just go out there and do it.

It it's true that fastidiousness and attention to detail is very much in my genes - if you knew my parents, you'd see that this is something I've inherited, only doubly so.

Concerts are dangerous because anything can happen - which is one of the joys as well.

When I lose direction, it becomes very hard to write. I actually get a physical pain, as if my subconscious knows better. That may sound mystical and pretentious, but it's true.

Blessed be, it's finally Spring. In joy and delight the birds sing, Ravished upon the entire earth, The new rebirth, Helas, the joy it brings!

Death and birth are solitary experiences. We are born alone and we die alone. When we are expelled from the maternal womb, we begin the painful struggle that finally ends in death.

Irreligion - the principal one of the great faiths of the world.

I definitely am a huge lover of comedy, and it's only through doing so many comedies that I've realised how much of an influence they've been on me.

When you play a concerto with a small orchestra, you don't feel it is as important as Carnegie Hall. You try to work out all the little problems. Once that's all done, trust comes in.

Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.

I try not to have expectations because they can tend to tear you apart. I expect to work as hard as I can possibly work and I expect to give every ounce of a hundred percent.

The body remembers what your mind forgets.

It's funny the more technological advanced everything gets, the more like acting in your bedroom when you're a kid it is.

It's not whether you win or lose - but whether I win or lose.