Colin Wilson Quotes

I'm very proud of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The sound of the orchestra is one of the most magnificent musical sounds that has ever existed.

My whole life, I've been watching conductors. I was 7 the first time I played with a conductor. Seeing the ones that do it well, it's an amazing thing.

In contrast, traditional classical music starts from an abstract musical schema. This is then notated and only expressed in concrete sound as a last stage, when it is performed.

You can't play a symphony alone, it takes an orchestra to play it.

It was really amazing. I mean, he'd never mentioned that he played in the symphony, like serious violin playing, not fiddle playing. And he just blew us away.

The Chicago Symphony is considered the greatest orchestra in the world.

When I was 20, Shostakovich was my favorite composer. I still find his Fifth Symphony wonderful, with its outstanding themes and rhythms. That's the piece that made me want to be a classical composer.

After conducting Wagner, Beethoven's triple concerto is like taking an Alka Seltzer.

I'd love to do 'Werther.' It's a great opera, and the music's so beautiful.

I equate composing with orchestrating. I think my music in terms of an orchestra.

Each piece I tell stands on its own, and then it all ties together. It segues from story to story, and then I wrap it up - like three-piece movements in a symphony.

If we perform the romantic repertoire we need more musicians.

I do basically what a conductor does with a baton, except I also play along with the orchestra. So I have to juggle the roles of playing the concertmaster; sometimes I drop the violin and wave my arms.

Music and opera are a big part of my life.

We are each but a quarter note in a grand symphony.

You have certain expressions when you write music, a lot of different emotions, a lot of different feelings.

Music is organized sound.

There was one thing Beethoven didn't do. When one of his string quartets was played, you can believe the second violin wasn't improvising.

Opera is the ultimate art form. It has singing and music and drama and dance and emotion and story.

In South America, I heard the 8th Symphony of Beethoven. And the young conductor thought, Beethoven must be heroic. But this is piece which shouldn't be heroic. And this was such a misunderstanding, such a deep misunderstanding.

I don't really know that there's any real rules for songwriting.

I think the opera is one of the great cultural jewels of Los Angeles.

Composers love to write for symphony orchestras because the symphony is the Rolls Royce of musical instruments.

A Beethoven symphony should be rehearsed like chamber music, only for a lot more people.