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Playing the Beethoven symphonies, for example, is a consummate experience for a musician because Beethoven speaks so directly to who we are as people.

Most Beethoven symphonies require 80 or more instruments, and the late romantics even more.

You can't play a symphony alone, it takes an orchestra to play it.

We can't afford big symphonies but we commission works that sound rich and symphonic because of the nature of the instrumentation and the people we work with.

I approach everything as chamber music. Even with Beethoven symphonies, I lead from the violin and basically encourage the orchestra to think of it as a giant string quartet.

We are a global society, and one does not have to be from Germany to give a great performance of Beethoven.

Beethoven's symphonies are not 'relaxing.' They are the most exciting things that have ever been created by a human being.

But a large symphony orchestra basically is a repertory company and it has a very enormous repertoire and it is important for the performers to be able to know how to shift focus so that they instantly become part of the sound world that a particular repertoire demands.

I think that of my 21 symphonies, each has its own place.