1432 quotes by composers for you to enjoy

I have had a place in New York in the musicians' district on the Upper West Side since 1986. Stephen Hough

Musicians Side District Had Since New West West Side York Upper New York Place

My principal commitment is playing the piano. But I always loved words. Stephen Hough

Commitment Words Piano Principal Always Loved Playing

Painting is just a hobby. I really don't think of it much more than that. But writing music and writing words... my life would feel as if it had a big hole if I took those away. Stephen Hough

There's certainly no doubt that commercialism has entered classical music to such a degree that almost no one seems to care anymore about the physical and mental health of the performer. Stephen Hough

If you arrive at a concert ready to play your piece, that's not nearly good enough. You must have your music ready to the point where you can play it on a short rehearsal, after a long plane flight, on a strange piano, having had an unpleasant lunch, in an unfriendly atmosphere. You have to be so over-prepared that you can cope with anything. Stephen Hough

Music Good You Strange Long Lunch Enough Must Unpleasant Atmosphere Having Point Piano Had Piece Concert Ready Arrive Short Where After Anything Unfriendly Plane Your Flight Rehearsal Play Nearly Cope

It's so easy for all the success in the world to suddenly end, and I'm quite aware of that. Stephen Hough

Success World Easy End Quite Suddenly Aware

Once or twice, I've taken the Gideon Bible out of the drawer, opened it at random, and found myself stuck in the middle of a genealogical list. And that's when I thought: why not cherry-pick the best bits, passages that people can actually use? Stephen Hough

To me, the heart of the ministry lies in being able to help deeply distressed people, not because of your own qualities but because you represent Christ. Stephen Hough

Me You Heart People Christ Own Distressed Ministry Lies Able Qualities Because Represent Being Your Help Deeply

I once nodded off during one of my own concerts. While I was playing. Stephen Hough

Own Once My Own Concerts Off While Playing

It's very hard to come up with ideal situations... With different moods and the difficulties of traveling around, I often play my best under the worst conditions. Stephen Hough

Best Difficulties Worst Moods Ideal Come Around Conditions Up Very Often Situations Different Hard Traveling Play

Debussy is one of the few composers who actually created a new sound on the piano - or perhaps we should say a new smell, so perfumed are the vibrations which emanate from the instrument. Stephen Hough

Smell Few Say Emanate Composers Piano New Perhaps Instrument Sound Debussy Vibrations Which Created Should Who Actually

No two composers were more totally at home in front of the piano than Debussy and Chopin, hands to keys to strings to sound waves to pen and paper in one perfect gesture of inspiration. Stephen Hough

They both changed the way we hear the sound of the piano, both of them inventors of sonority: Chopin took bel canto singing lines and reproduced them on the keyboard above richly upholstered counterpoint; Debussy somehow preserved vibrations in the air, blending their ephemeral magic into music that reaches far back into deep memory. Stephen Hough

Music Memory Singing Preserved Changed Keyboard Took Back Air Way Magic Somehow Above Both Inventors Piano Counterpoint Blending Sound Hear Lines Debussy Vibrations Them Ephemeral Far Chopin Deep

My place in London is very small, so a piano would take up a third of the room. I leave home in the morning when I'm there and go to my studio. I close the door, and it's soundproof. There's no phone or TV or computer, and I can work uninterruptedly. That has been a huge advantage over the years. Stephen Hough

Work Home Morning Phone Has-Been TV Would London Small Computer Piano Take Studio Advantage Over Leave Go Been Years Huge Up Very Close Door Place Room Third

Why do people compose music? Why do people listen to music? When we go into a concert, we go into a place where we want to experience a sort of ecstasy, to come out of ourselves. Stephen Hough

Music Experience People Ourselves Out Compose Come Ecstasy Concert Sort Go Listen Where Want Place Why

Unlike a high-wire walker, I don't think any musician strikes the wires of a piano or draws a bow across a violin's strings primarily for the kick of an adrenalin fix. There is danger on stage, but dropped notes are not broken bones; a memory lapse is not a tumble to the ground. Stephen Hough

Broken Memory Stage Think Unlike Strikes Kick Danger Strings Musician Draws Adrenalin Piano Wires Primarily Dropped Bow Walker Fix Any Tumble Notes Across Ground Lapse Violin Bones

In Britten or Berg, there's a tension between the sweet and the sour, between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the tonal and the atonal, the happy and the sad. That, to me, is what all western art is about - that tension. It's why we want to say anything at all. Stephen Hough

Sad Art Me Happy Sweet Say About Tension Between Sour Western Familiar Unfamiliar Want Anything Why Tonal

Freedom comes with the impossibility of choosing. Stephen Hough

Freedom Impossibility Choosing

I love teaching. Stephen Hough

Love Teaching

I don't watch television! At least not when I'm traveling. For some reason, I have always found it depressing to watch television in hotel rooms. I try to use that time, as well as time on planes, to write. Stephen Hough

Time Try Television Some Write Hotel Hotel Rooms Well Always Least Depressing Rooms Planes Use Reason Traveling Found Watch

Most people spend their life trying to get away from Catholicism. Amazingly, I chose it. Stephen Hough

Life People Spend Most Catholicism Amazingly Get Trying Chose Away

Quotes by Composers