I listen to everything from Ravel to the Bee Gees.
You might lose your spontaneity and, instead of composing first-rate Gershwin, end up with second rate Ravel.
I thought we had opposite visions of electronic music. Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk had a very robotic, mechanical approach. I had a more impressionist vision - a Ravel/Debussy approach.
I went to a music academy in Los Angeles, and some friends started playing me Ravel and Prokofiev, who I liked, but what really blew me away was 'The Rite of Spring.' That's what made me get interested in classical music for real and want to study it.
And, you know, I think the original recording of Ravel's Bolero, probably whoever played percussion on that, will never have It played better than that.
I've learned a lot from the masters of orchestration, like Ravel and Stravinsky.
For ten years, I went to piano lessons. I don't think I'm a very musical person, and the theory quite defeated me, but I had a freak aptitude for Debussy and Ravel.
I like classical music. I especially like the French composers: Ravel in particular. Debussy. That's so soothing in a nervous world.
On my mental iPod, I always have Stravinsky and Ravel.
