I like his [Igor Stravinsky's] Violin Concerto, and I love his Mass – marvellous music. Fools think that Stravinsky’s composing deteriorated towards the end. That’s calumny and envy speaking. To my taste, it’s just the reverse. It’s the early works that I like less – for instance, The Rite of Spring, which is rather crude, so much of it calculated for external effect and lacking substance. I can say the same for Firebird, I really don’t like it very much.