The composer's relationship with time is the catalyst here for a wide-ranging conversation. The initial pages explore the distance between the length of time required to write and the duration of the resulting music. The significance of first rehearsals, the value of seeing other composers’ sketches and preliminary versions of works, and the importance of thinking about sketching strategies are all considered (along with the choice of pencil). Anderson's uneasy relationship with the metronome is explored, prompting discussion about composers’ tendency to change their minds and not having exclusive insight into their music. An exchange on historically informed performance ensues that, after debate about general trends, looks specifically at changing fashion in the performance of Mahler and the tempi in some of Messiaen's slow movements. Metronome issues then return centre-stage, notably in Anderson's Khorovod and the music of Carter, before the myth of the all-knowing composer is debunked. The conversation concludes with further examination of tempo in Messiaen and Boulez.