Orchestral Works Quotes

There are some composers - at the head of whom stands Beethoven - who not only do not know when to stop but appear to stop many times before they actually do.

Undoubtedly [Beethoven's] music often verges on kitsch

I remain extraordinarily proud of the Vaughan Williams symphonies I recorded with the LSO, and in the 1980s and '90s, I made an almost complete cycle of orchestral works by Richard Strauss with the Vienna Philharmonic.

The songs of Bizet are by a French peer of Rossini. When Rossini stopped composing, he was living in Paris. He also wrote some beautiful songs in French.

Beethoven always sounds to me like the upsetting of a bag of nails, with here and there an also dropped hammer.

Wagner is a composer who has beautiful moments but awful quarter hours.

Most of my recorded material has been in small group configurations. I have not released large orchestral works as recordings because it hasn't been within the realm of possibility.

After the Second World War, I returned to California to study composition with Darius Milhaud, who wrote wonderful works like 'Le Boeuf sur le Toit' and 'La Cretion du Monde.' I especially enjoy his work for two pianos, 'Scaramouche.'

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

I loved a lot of the romantic composers.

Liszt was a bit of a rock and roller at heart, but he was a bit of a puritan on his sounds.

I think that of my 21 symphonies, each has its own place.

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

Brahms is one of my all-time favorite composers.

I'm thankful to Deutsche Grammophon, our partners - we are going to record the complete Shostakovich symphonies and hopefully some other things as well.

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

I have written symphonic poems and chamber music. It is my way of personal expression.

The symphonies are the things that, as a soloist, I've not gotten to play. I used to travel the world playing concertos, and then I would sit and listen to the symphony.

Puccini is my favorite composer.

The impressionists, Debussy, Faure, in France, did take a few steps forward.

I had never really liked the music by Gabriel Faure, but just by chance, listening to some pieces by him, I got very interested. So I listened to almost everything. All the pieces written by him. I was digging deeper and deeper. I'm not sure I still like his music or not, but it's interesting.