Anyone who has worked with me on performances or recordings should be able to tell you how very uncomfortable I am with addressing groups—either audiences or performers—with regard to my compositions. This reluctance is connected, no doubt, to my discomfort with detailed program notes, but it also has to do with a general shyness about public speaking, and I am certainly not a very good extemporizer on the subject of compositional background or inspiration. I have more than once demurred when given the opportunity to talk to performers who were …