Like an apparently strict musical form it breaks the five minute whole into its structural parts - a descriptive preamble, the action of taking the cards, the development of the cards' manipulation and the revelation of what has been achieved.
Somehow in the 20th Century an idea has developed that music is an activity or skill which is not comprehensible to the man in the street. This is an arrogant assertion and not necessarily a true one.
I currently spend a lot of time thinking about orchestration and every detail of a piece.
What was once underground is now coming to the surface.
I am writing something which I find satisfying and which I am prepared to put my name to as a composer.
Writing tonal music now, you are not writing into the 19th Century.
There's another way of making music, by touching the lives and feelings of ordinary people.
The academic area of new music or modern music festivals is not something which attracts me at all.
Still, American composers working in France have had a pretty hard time.
Similarly you can make a transition from one set of instruments to another imperceptibly.
People like Arvo Part would not have been taken seriously 20 years ago.
Over the years I have tried to develop something which is technically assured.
Music history has flowed under the bridges for many years.
It's rather like attending a university seminar where you are talking to a few gifted specialists who deliver a paper to an audience of their peers. That's one way of making music.
It makes sense to invest in new work. It's almost like having a research department in a scientific laboratory. You have to try things out. You'll make some bad mistakes. Some things will fail but at least you'll energise the organisation.
I've heard though that there is a younger generation of tonal French composers who are reacting with vigour.
I work very fast, keeping the ideas flowing but making sure they come out the way I intended.
I know that John Adams has had a very hard time directing French ensembles.
I have friends who have a CD mastering plant in Hollywood and they are very sceptical about European record labels' understanding of digital technology.
Craft is part of the creative process.
