I realized that the European dogma is not necessarily the only way to look at things. Esa-Pekka Salonen More Quotes by Esa-Pekka Salonen More Quotes From Esa-Pekka Salonen We're not talking about an elite art form from the price point of view. We have a building in L.A. that is incredibly open, exciting, inviting, and all that, and there's no reason for this music not to be part of everybody's everyday life. Esa-Pekka Salonen viewstalkingart Conducting was just something that happened by fluke. Esa-Pekka Salonen conductingflukeshappened Lots of really interesting people move to U.S and decide to work here, because of this whole attitude and openness. I'm absolutely convinced that this is just the beginning. In a couple decades we will see an even more dramatic change. Esa-Pekka Salonen coupleattitudemoving There is something very special about this part of the world [U.S], which is the openness and the curiosity and the lack of prejudice and the lack of generally accepted norms as to what art should be and how an artist's career should go and all that. Esa-Pekka Salonen careerscuriosityart I like this idea of identification with the local team. I think it's great. That's what an orchestra should be. It's an orchestra for its hometown, and it serves the people. Esa-Pekka Salonen teamideasthinking Classic music somehow changed, and it changed between the first and the second world wars, and somehow what happened was that the hero that had been the composer, the hero now was the performer, and especially the conductor. Esa-Pekka Salonen herowarfirsts There was this kind of mildly annoying mythology about conductor Like biker should riding a Harley-Davidson on an LP cover, and wearing a sort of a leather suit. Esa-Pekka Salonen bikersridingsuits Somehow, conductor as this superhuman conduit between the masters and the masterpieces and the immortals. Esa-Pekka Salonen masterpiecesuperhumanmasters The sort of commercial parameters of classical music changed after the [World War II] , and the whole industry became more backward-looking. Esa-Pekka Salonen classical-musicwarworld Of course, if you think of a European or American household in the '50s, so what were the things that when people started climbing up the ladder, what did they buy? A fridge, a TV, I think piano was the number three item in say '53 or '54. Esa-Pekka Salonen pianonumbersthinking Our industry [classic music] has kind of retarded into this kind of endless cover-producing thing, and it's a pity. Esa-Pekka Salonen pityclassickind Of course performing talent, that's clear. Maybe this is not so well-known among young people who are interested in music, who are talented in music, but they're trying to figure out how to go about it. Esa-Pekka Salonen talenttryingpeople I think we still do have a PR problem in the sense that these institutions portray themselves quite often as a museum without the contemporary wing. For a young cutting-edge person, why would you get into that sort of business, which is very clearly geared towards dead or almost dead people? Esa-Pekka Salonen cuttingmuseumsthinking I think we are in the process of getting the word out, and we haven't done very well yet. But we are trying. Esa-Pekka Salonen donetryingthinking The biggest difference between U.S and most European big cities is that in a place like London, for instance, there are five orchestras, and there's a bloody competition between these five orchestras. Esa-Pekka Salonen competitiondifferencescities If I were in a position to announce a public competition to coin a new word, I would do so right now. Esa-Pekka Salonen coinspositioncompetition This continuity of sound and form was something that I became really interested in from working with Ligeti. He was always going on about how form has to be continuous. Esa-Pekka Salonen somethinghowalwayssound If the seams are showing, there is something wrong with the performance or the construction of the piece. This idea is completely at odds with our modern visual experience, because everything today is based on montage. Esa-Pekka Salonen wrongperformanceexperiencetoday After working with Ligeti I began to hear Brahms and Beethoven differently. Esa-Pekka Salonen differentlyafterhearworking
