Anna Meredith Professions : Composer Born : 1978 Browse All Authors Top 14 quotes by Anna Meredith There's something strange about a laptop, how you can make the tiniest gesture and make the biggest sound. I don't feel I've resolved working a sense of performance into a piece yet. Anna Meredith gestures pieces sound I had thought everyone in the electronic world would be so laid back, but there's as many cliques and prejudices as any other world. Anna Meredith laid-back other-worlds prejudice It's the balance between wanting the power of electronics and having something real happening - if you want people to engage in what you're doing, I think that's important. I want to have fun with people, but that's hard to do with a laptop. Anna Meredith real fun thinking I want to become less and less about the laptop. That's what's lovely about an orchestra - the physicality, the way every gesture relates to something you're hearing. Anna Meredith gestures orchestra lovely Quite often, when I describe to people what I want, I'll say "overwhelming" - I want it to feel like it's phy Anna Meredith overwhelming want people Performances are so defined by their venues - it'd be nice for the music to dictate more of the reaction. Anna Meredith venues reactions nice I feel happier knowing a starting point came from me. And I like stuff that gives you a physical reaction. Anna Meredith knowing stuff giving I try to listen to stuff that makes me happy for other reasons, rather than being musically inspiring. Anna Meredith reason stuff trying If I'm feeling confident, then I write confident, happy, or assured music. I can hear some early electronic sketches I did where I'm clearly not confident and everything's a bit mid-range, nothing really pushes through. Anna Meredith range feelings writing I'm less interested in uniqueness than in goodness. I see so many concerts where the program notes are more interesting than the music. I remember talking to one composer who went through the most complicated mathematical algorithm to generate some material from scratch. It took weeks and weeks, and he came up with a C major chord. For me, honesty is more interesting than originality. Anna Meredith honesty talking interesting I've never been really interested in music, classical or otherwise, where the craft is more important than the result. I realized quickly that I'd never be a technical electronic musician. Anna Meredith crafts musician important With the classical stuff, I've always been better at the big brushstrokes and broad textures than spending ages honing a chord, or tweaking a sample. Anna Meredith texture age stuff Other friends have said, "I don't understand why you've used this trumpet-style sound rather than a real one when you know you can write for trumpet." But it's most important to get the energy right. Anna Meredith style real writing I'm up for a massive, bombastic tour with hydraulics, robots, lasers, 15 costume changes, projecting on a power station, big impact, big visuals. I'd love to realize the theatricality of the whole thing. To be overwhelming, to surprise you, maybe to play in hidden spaces. Anna Meredith impact space play Similar Authors Igor Stravinsky composer Irving Berlin composer Brian Ferneyhough composer Bryce Dessner composer Bradley Joseph composer Boudleaux Bryant composer All Authors
