Stravinsky is masterly: his harmony is conceived so precisely that it can only be the way it is.
From Esa-Pekka Salonen
I've learned a lot from the masters of orchestration, like Ravel and Stravinsky.
My music wouldn't sound the way it does if I hadn't had the experience of conducting.
I feel very free and very happy to be a composer.
There is such a suspicion in today's world of people who do more than one thing, who aren't specialized.
Anyone who composes and conducts at the same time is immediately suspect, because he must be faking one or the other.
The act of conducting in itself, of waving my arms in the air and being in charge, I didn't miss. I missed the sensual pleasure of being in contact with music.
With American orchestras, in particular, because they play in such huge halls, getting a true pianissimo is very hard.
The players never think they project enough. In a hall that seats 3,300 people, it's a very scary thing to play so quietly that you can barely hear yourself.
Once you get over the first hill, there is always a new, higher one lurking, of course.
7 perspectives
4 perspectives
3 perspectives
1 perspectives