Samuel Andreyev, who are you?
What was your earliest musical emotion?
A feeling of incomprehension and of something complex and transcendental that resisted me. I remember having been very struck by the discovery, when I was very young, of Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony. Powerful, noble, exultant music, but characterised also by a certain humour, a certain joviality.
Your fictional hero/heroine
It is alas difficult for me to read fiction, unless it is very short. My reading is directed more towards poetry, history or else art. My favourite novels are novels that are not really novels. First and foremost I would mention Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake.
Your best moment for composing
It varies, but in general, just after some intense physical activity: swimming, that I practise almost every day, or else an outing on a racing cycle. The music I compose is very physical, very demanding, you have to be in good shape for it.
The most striking thing you have read lately
I read several books at the same time. I like to alternate works that are quite unconnected. At present: The Modern History of Liechtenstein by David Beattie ; the poetry of Georg Trakl ; the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus of Ludwig Wittgenstein ; the Treatise on Metapsychics by Charles Richet.
Your cult film or series
The other day I saw Werner Herzog’s film Encounters at the End of the World, quite assuredly a masterpiece. I do not have a TV set at home and I do not watch series.
Your preferred occupation
Making today a bit better than yesterday.
