Cy Twombly Quotes

Richard Wagner, a musician who wrote music which is better than it sounds.

We do a lot of light classical programming with that, too... obviously... a lot of Tchaikovsky music, Grieg, things like that which have become less classical with classical concerts.

I love anything by Tchaikovsky. He was the real pop star of his day.

Shostakovich was one of the great symphonists of all time, and maybe the last great symphonist.

I happen to love Saint-Saens in general. I think he's a brilliant composer and sometimes underrated in a way because people like to pass him off as fluffy and not being serious.

Mozart has written opera, symphony, sacred and chamber music - not to mention his piano and violin concerti.

If you want to find the source of much of the music of modern day Russia, you will find it in the incredible compositions of that crazed lunatic Berlioz.

I love Massenet - 'Manon' had been a wonderful role for me - and the music he wrote for 'Thais' is quite enjoyable and not terribly demanding in a vocal sense.

Tchaikovsky was one of the great melody writers of all time.

I've got that Beethoven energy, that Stravinsky energy. And it's all a gift from the Creator.

That's the way Stravinsky was. Bup, bup, bup, bup. The poor guy's dead now. Play it legato.

Mendelssohn never wrote any Water Music. However, he wrote the Scotch Symphony, which is even better, or at least stronger.

all this Beethoven and rain

Undoubtedly [Beethoven's] music often verges on kitsch

My whole trick is to keep the tune well out in front. If I play Tchaikovsky, I play his melodies and skip his spiritual struggle.

Mozart is everyone's tea, pleasing to highbrows, middlebrows and lowbrows alike, though they probably all get different kinds of pleasure from him.

Concert repertoire is some of the most beautiful music ever written, and I frequently seek out opportunities to perform it.

My mother, Minuetta Kessler, was a concert pianist and composer who performed at Carnegie Hall and Town Hall.

If a professional musician in a symphony orchestra is playing Beethoven. But this particular orchestra have played this particular chestnut so many times, they can play it in their sleep. Does the genius remain present in the music or not?

I usually listen to the same thing over and over again: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. And Leonard Cohen.

Pulse as an active means of expression, Stravinsky and Beethoven are the two masters of that.

Shostakovich's final pieces, his quartets, are scratching the surface of another world.

I love Shostakovich. We were good friends.

The colors of 'The Nutcracker' ballet score have become a part of the vocabulary of film music. It's where so much of the 19th-century romantic music that I call upon as a film composer is rooted.

Chopin is a great composer who influenced many, many important composers. He was a great innovator, especially in harmony.