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Quotes by Composer

"There are always things to examine. What's great is not feeling that I have to refuse any of them. Maybe no good from a PR perspective, but from the point of view of everyday life, it keeps things interesting."
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Fred Frith
"There are always things to examine. What's great is not feeling that I have to refuse any of them. Maybe no good from a PR perspective, but from the point of view of everyday life, it keeps things interesting."
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16
"I'm trying to get hold of them... the trouble is a lot of the companies that recorded and produced the albums went bust, so I don't know where to get the masters."
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Cy Coleman
"I'm trying to get hold of them... the trouble is a lot of the companies that recorded and produced the albums went bust, so I don't know where to get the masters."
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16
"We felt we had to know something of his back story. I don't think people in the cinema would just accept that he's there. I think we had to learn how he (got there)."
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Andrew Lloyd Webber
"We felt we had to know something of his back story. I don't think people in the cinema would just accept that he's there. I think we had to learn how he (got there)."
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16
"I knew nothing about film at all. I suppose the biggest surprise is all these things. In the theatre we sort of do, I might do two or three key interviews and that would be it."
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Andrew Lloyd Webber
"I knew nothing about film at all. I suppose the biggest surprise is all these things. In the theatre we sort of do, I might do two or three key interviews and that would be it."
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16
"Essentially my contribution was to introduce repetition into Western music as the main ingredient without any melody over it, without anything just repeated patterns, musical patterns."
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Terry Riley
"Essentially my contribution was to introduce repetition into Western music as the main ingredient without any melody over it, without anything just repeated patterns, musical patterns."
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16
"Richard Wagner, a musician who wrote music which is better than it sounds."
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Richard Wagner
"Richard Wagner, a musician who wrote music which is better than it sounds."
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16
"What makes a specific quality or quantity of innovation retain its intense newness over the years?"
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Brian Ferneyhough
"What makes a specific quality or quantity of innovation retain its intense newness over the years?"
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16
"What force is more potent than love?"
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Igor Stravinsky
"What force is more potent than love?"
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16
"I thought in terms of the enthusiasm of doing it. I didn't think about whether I was ready."
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Elmer Bernstein
"I thought in terms of the enthusiasm of doing it. I didn't think about whether I was ready."
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16
"I have friends who have a CD mastering plant in Hollywood and they are very sceptical about European record labels' understanding of digital technology."
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Gavin Bryars
"I have friends who have a CD mastering plant in Hollywood and they are very sceptical about European record labels' understanding of digital technology."
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16
"This sounds horribly pretentious, but I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it."
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Harrison Birtwistle
"This sounds horribly pretentious, but I like to think that if music hadn't existed, I could have invented it."
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16
"For Ryan's Daughter I used a total of eight harps, something that was, at least, weird."
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Maurice Jarre
"For Ryan's Daughter I used a total of eight harps, something that was, at least, weird."
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16
"What was once underground is now coming to the surface."
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Gavin Bryars
"What was once underground is now coming to the surface."
Now,
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16
"I like business and personal life to be distinct."
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Carter Burwell
"I like business and personal life to be distinct."
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16
"The movie adaptations of stage musicals that I've seen, without exception, in my opinion don't work. A lot of people would disagree with me."
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Stephen Sondheim
"The movie adaptations of stage musicals that I've seen, without exception, in my opinion don't work. A lot of people would disagree with me."
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16
"Since the beginning of time, children have not liked to study. They would much rather play, and if you have their interests at heart, you will let them learn while they play; they will find that what they have mastered is child's play."
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Carl Orff
"Since the beginning of time, children have not liked to study. They would much rather play, and if you have their interests at heart, you will let them learn while they play; they will find that what they have mastered is child's play."
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16
"I never force myself to be devout except when I feel so inspired, and never compose hymns of prayers unless I feel within me real and true devotion."
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Franz Schubert
"I never force myself to be devout except when I feel so inspired, and never compose hymns of prayers unless I feel within me real and true devotion."
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16
"This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble."
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Ludwig van Beethoven
"This is the mark of a really admirable man: steadfastness in the face of trouble."
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16
"An operetta is simply a small and gay opera."
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Gustav Mahler
"An operetta is simply a small and gay opera."
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16
"This is not to say that the Scots are not fine people, but they were all sort of... well, my grandfather was a minister and sort of Protestant, and this was rather depressing to me."
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Alan Hovhaness
"This is not to say that the Scots are not fine people, but they were all sort of... well, my grandfather was a minister and sort of Protestant, and this was rather depressing to me."
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16
"I almost never try to make the audience comfortable. I wouldn't want that if I were in the audience."
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Carter Burwell
"I almost never try to make the audience comfortable. I wouldn't want that if I were in the audience."
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16
"It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself."
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Johannes Sebastian Bach
"It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself."
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16
"The past nine years in San Diego have represented such a period of questioning."
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Brian Ferneyhough
"The past nine years in San Diego have represented such a period of questioning."
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16
"Even before he had one book published, Jack was one of those people you could feel was very special."
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David Amram
"Even before he had one book published, Jack was one of those people you could feel was very special."
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16
"You cannot set art off in a corner and hope for it to have vitality, reality, and substance."
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Charles Ives
"You cannot set art off in a corner and hope for it to have vitality, reality, and substance."
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16
"I'm not fit company for man or beast."
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Billy Strayhorn
"I'm not fit company for man or beast."
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16
"Extreme complication is contrary to art."
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Claude Debussy
"Extreme complication is contrary to art."
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16
"I think things changed as a result of a certain perception of our politics. When we went through our zealous, self-righteous period it didn't exactly win us any friends."
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Fred Frith
"I think things changed as a result of a certain perception of our politics. When we went through our zealous, self-righteous period it didn't exactly win us any friends."
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16
"When I was growing up, there was no such thing as Off-Broadway. You either got your show on or you didn't."
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Stephen Sondheim
"When I was growing up, there was no such thing as Off-Broadway. You either got your show on or you didn't."
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16
"My mother wanted me off her hands. She was a working woman. She designed clothes, and she was a celebrity collector. It's my mother's ambition to be a celebrity."
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Stephen Sondheim
"My mother wanted me off her hands. She was a working woman. She designed clothes, and she was a celebrity collector. It's my mother's ambition to be a celebrity."
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15
"Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe."
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Elliott Carter
"Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe."
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15
"At the end of the competition, I played the Liszt concerto and I felt my head was on the block. Well, I won."
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Andre Boucourechliev
"At the end of the competition, I played the Liszt concerto and I felt my head was on the block. Well, I won."
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15
"Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions of childhood, he ceases being an artist."
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Ned Rorem
"Arguably, no artist grows up: If he sheds the perceptions of childhood, he ceases being an artist."
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15
"The only hope is that our civilization will collapse at a certain point, as always happens in history. Then, out of barbarity, a renaissance."
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Pierre Schaeffer
"The only hope is that our civilization will collapse at a certain point, as always happens in history. Then, out of barbarity, a renaissance."
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15
"In any case, Ives encouraged me to go into music even though he himself had such a hard time being a composer."
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Elliott Carter
"In any case, Ives encouraged me to go into music even though he himself had such a hard time being a composer."
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15
"Our castle is not imposing, but is well built, and surrounded by a very fine garden. I live in the bailiff's house."
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Franz Schubert
"Our castle is not imposing, but is well built, and surrounded by a very fine garden. I live in the bailiff's house."
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15
"In that long sequence, when Lawrence enters in the desert to rescue a lost man, Lean listened the music I wrote and wanted to extend the scene to let my work stay completely."
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Maurice Jarre
"In that long sequence, when Lawrence enters in the desert to rescue a lost man, Lean listened the music I wrote and wanted to extend the scene to let my work stay completely."
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15
"Today each composer is not only involved in aesthetics, but he's actually trying to create his own language."
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Leo Ornstein
"Today each composer is not only involved in aesthetics, but he's actually trying to create his own language."
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15
"It was very difficult to startle or surprise someone with a particular sound during the family computer era."
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Nobuo Uematsu
"It was very difficult to startle or surprise someone with a particular sound during the family computer era."
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15
"There is a world of difference between a Mahler eighth note and a normal eighth note."
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Gustav Mahler
"There is a world of difference between a Mahler eighth note and a normal eighth note."
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15
"Certainly being in California has encouraged a sustained commitment to rethinking the nature, purposes, and relevance of the contemporary arts, specifically music, for a society which by and large seems to manage quite well without them."
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Brian Ferneyhough
"Certainly being in California has encouraged a sustained commitment to rethinking the nature, purposes, and relevance of the contemporary arts, specifically music, for a society which by and large seems to manage quite well without them."
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"This is not a happy time for this kind of music in this country."
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George Crumb
"This is not a happy time for this kind of music in this country."
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15
"It is never too late to fall in love."
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Sandy Wilson
"It is never too late to fall in love."
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15
"Because I was small, I was getting the hell kicked out of me playing football."
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Burt Bacharach
"Because I was small, I was getting the hell kicked out of me playing football."
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"My masters are strange folk with very little care for music in them."
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Johannes Sebastian Bach
"My masters are strange folk with very little care for music in them."
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15
"The worst thing you can do is censor yourself as the pencil hits the paper. You must not edit until you get it all on paper. If you can put everything down, stream-of-consciousness, you'll do yourself a service."
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Stephen Sondheim
"The worst thing you can do is censor yourself as the pencil hits the paper. You must not edit until you get it all on paper. If you can put everything down, stream-of-consciousness, you'll do yourself a service."
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15
"Supreme serenity still remains the Ideal of great Art. The shapes and transitory forms of life are but stages toward this Ideal, which Christ's religion illuminates with His divine light."
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Franz Liszt
"Supreme serenity still remains the Ideal of great Art. The shapes and transitory forms of life are but stages toward this Ideal, which Christ's religion illuminates with His divine light."
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"I like to hear melodies that go from one extreme to the next- saxophone to a bell to a whistle, for instance."
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Roscoe Mitchell
"I like to hear melodies that go from one extreme to the next- saxophone to a bell to a whistle, for instance."
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15
"I have no trouble with y enemies. But my god damn friends... they are the ones that keep me walking the floors at night."
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Oscar Levant
"I have no trouble with y enemies. But my god damn friends... they are the ones that keep me walking the floors at night."
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"In my piano concerto I developed this polyphony to much higher complexity."
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Gyorgy Ligeti
"In my piano concerto I developed this polyphony to much higher complexity."
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