Whereas most other modern composers are engaged in manufacturing cocktails of every hue and description, I offer the public cold spring water. - Jean Sibelius

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.

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

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.