Esa-Pekka Salonen Quotes

I express myself using my classical skills to write more complex forms of popular music.

I started writing music as a composer in school, in the classical tradition.

There's a richness to the old works if you look before the 1950s. The chord progressions and the language was more complicated, especially in the jazz and classical world.

Chopin was a master of melody, harmony and voice leading - the art of smoothly moving from chord to chord.

Bach was a top harmonist geezer, which is why the jazz cats love him.

I went to study some orchestration stuff because I got so inspired working with all the orchestras.

Jon Anderson and I, we really liked a lot of classical music, and we wanted to get some orchestral arrangements going on 'Time And A Word.'

Music would lose its charm were not dissonance interspersed at frequent intervals. The closer a composer can come to discord without actually entering it in the score, the more pleasing will be his composition when given life through musical instruments.

I want the score to have a really big voice.

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

We really like having songs where we think the arrangement is just as important as the melodies, even though they're typically not.

I want to write orchestral music. I want to get a group of singers together and sing William Byrd songs.

Normally when you write for an orchestra, you think about melody and harmony and countermelody.

I've always looked at guys who I've admired, like John Williams and Lalo Schifrin and Max Steiner, and looked at the choices they made and always try to take a cue from that.

I like live musicians and personally orchestrate about 80 to 90% of all my scores.

It is the responsibility of music composers to add some classical music elements into their songs to make the music genre popular.

You can only learn orchestration if you have the possibility of using an orchestra.

I studied harmony and composition in a very spontaneous manner.

Stravinsky is masterly: his harmony is conceived so precisely that it can only be the way it is.

I have to tell you that J.S. Bach was easily the greatest musical innovator in the history of the world. He was so advanced for his time. There's a spiritual depth to his music. You can listen to it and it's like meditation.

I used to listen to a lot of Bach on the radio, and when the basses started to sing, it made everything complete - it made it all make sense.

I didn't start writing with band arrangements until I was working on 'Tramp.'

I think I still want to be a music director as a grown man.

Music is so abstract; it is a combination of words and melody.

I had a really pleasant time composing music for 'Raaga.'