I can't imagine how many first performances I've done, perhaps 500. Some of them have been very good, and some of course very bad.

Once you get over the first hill, there is always a new, higher one lurking, of course.

I feel very free and very happy to be a composer.

The Northern idea of form is more of a process. The various units of the form overlap. You can't tell where some things stop and new things start. This is typical of Sibelius.

This conducting thing happened. In 1983 I was sucked into this international career, which was a very scary experience.

With American orchestras, in particular, because they play in such huge halls, getting a true pianissimo is very hard.