Harrison Birtwistle

I don't have ideas so much as there are things which constantly evolve... there are various threads or layers, if you like, which change.

My attitude to writing is like when you do wallpapering, you remember where all the little bits are that don't meet. And then your friends say: It's terrific!

I'm not a music lover in the sense that I look for something to have on. I've never had that attitude to music.

The theatre only knows what it's doing next week, not like the opera, where they say: What are we going to do in five years' time? A completely different attitude.