The framework of a symphony must be so strong that it forces you to follow it, regardless of the environment and circumstances. - Jean Sibelius

Music is for me like a beautiful mosaic which God has put together. He takes all the pieces in his hand, throws them into the world, and we have to recreate the picture from the pieces.

In his work a means of escape has been found from outmoded romanticism on the one hand and from a barren objectivity on the other.

If I could express the same thing with words as with music, I would, of course, use a verbal expression. Music is something autonomous and much richer. Music begins where the possibilities of language end. That is why I write music.