Anton Seidl Quotes

During 'Torches,' I was more concerned with communicating the spirit of the song than the actual lyrics.

If music leaves any impression at all, it does so without regard to stylistic issues.

If you can make the song a soundtrack to what you're living at the time, I think that's the most important part of a song.

I want my music to do the explaining.

Musicians from the beginning of time have been there to express the mood and the musical feelings in the air for whatever's going on in that particular culture. It's the greatest joy as a musician to be able to translate that, be part of something and watch the scenery around you.

A composer knows that music is written by human beings for human beings and that music is a continuation of life, not something separated from it.

The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning to music?' My answer would be, 'Yes.' And 'Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be, 'No.'

Opera was the cinema of its time, so to bring back that popular appeal, you just need to unleash its visceral immediacy and excitement. Most productions don't manage that - but when an opera does do it, you never forget it.

There's not only emotion in the way you sing but also in what you sing. That way I can compensate it.

Playing the Beethoven symphonies, for example, is a consummate experience for a musician because Beethoven speaks so directly to who we are as people.

As a songwriter, that's really what you hope for - to make that connection with your audience.

I believe in working with songs that have personal value for me.

So when I'm playing, I'm sort of painting a feeling in the air.

For a long time, I believed that a great piece of music on its own could do more to stir the soul than any other single art form.

My version of 'Fast Car' is in the same key as the original. To me that is where all the emotion lies.

That's the thing about the blues: It's one thing to hit a note on a guitar. To make it matter is something else altogether.

The whole deal with my music has been the emotional quality.

I feel music-making is more like a psychological game; each film has its own colour that needs to be identified and addressed.

I find myself more genuinely drawn to the essence of Beethoven in Schnabel than I ever have been by anybody.

Like dancers with choreography or actors with scripts, jazz singers could take material that was known, even loved, then risk interpreting and revising it. They could conceal even as they revealed themselves. Inflection, timing and tonality were their language, at least as much as words.

What I do is creative. It doesn't seem like that when I'm playing a piece that was written in the past, but the score is just the outline and everything in it is relative. The key is to make this piece written by someone else belong to you and then connect to the audience.

The music should speak for itself, and hopefully it will.

My goal is to connect with people emotionally. I take life’s experiences and translate them into music — music that hopefully creates an impact on the listener.

The effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than is that of the other arts, for these others speak only of the shadow, but music of the essence.

I love music. I do play. It's like mathematics, and it's also emotional. It's nice to play, for no other reason than just to play.