H: I never can understand when people tell me they don’t know how to write music. It’s much easier than writing a letter as far as I’m concerned. And I don’t see any difficulty. If you love music, you can write it. If you can read it, you can write it.

DRD: Virgil Thomson says that composing should be like writing a letter.

H: Yeah, well, it is, but I enjoy composing more.

-Alan Hovhaness in a conversation Dennis Russell Davies Charles Amirkhanianand (RTWT)