I started conducting lessons and I realized that this is actually something I like doing. Esa-Pekka Salonen More Quotes by Esa-Pekka Salonen More Quotes From Esa-Pekka Salonen Stravinsky is masterly: his harmony is conceived so precisely that it can only be the way it is. Esa-Pekka Salonen stravinskyharmonyway With American orchestras, in particular, because they play in such huge halls, getting a true pianissimo is very hard. Esa-Pekka Salonen hallsorchestraplay This country, and the West Coast, especially, is bad at preserving any cultural legacy. Esa-Pekka Salonen legacywestcountry This conducting thing happened. In 1983 I was sucked into this international career, which was a very scary experience. Esa-Pekka Salonen conductingscarycareers There will have to be times when I'm not conducting because I'm composing. I haven't solved that problem, and perhaps I never will. Esa-Pekka Salonen conductingcomposingproblem I always felt that one day I would have to make the change in my own life, bite the bullet and see what it is to be a composer who conducts rather than the other way around. Esa-Pekka Salonen bulletsone-dayway My music wouldn't sound the way it does if I hadn't had the experience of conducting. Esa-Pekka Salonen sounddoeway I'm trying to conduct only five months a year, and the rest will be composing time. I'm trying to spend as much as I can out of those months here in L.A., because for creative work, this is a fantastic place. Esa-Pekka Salonen creativetryingyears Music has just as much to do with movement and body as it does soul and intellect. Esa-Pekka Salonen movementsouldoe In Europe, there is so much tradition, and everyone has established ideas as to what art should be and what it has always been. Esa-Pekka Salonen europeideasart I don't believe in an annual dose of film music for the sake of it being film music. If we program film music, it will be because there is a real artistic reason for doing so. Esa-Pekka Salonen film-musicrealbelieve Our audience, it has been a more difficult process for classical music audiences around the world, and I'm not completely certain why. Esa-Pekka Salonen classical-musicprocessworld I'm still disturbed if a chord isn't together, but your priorities change as you get older. Esa-Pekka Salonen chordsprioritiestogether Once you get over the first hill, there is always a new, higher one lurking, of course. Esa-Pekka Salonen hillshigherfirsts I love a visceral sound, the kind that hits you in the belly. Esa-Pekka Salonen visceralkindsound I actually don't like this term, "classic." It's wrong, but we don't have a better word at the moment. Esa-Pekka Salonen classictermmoments I feel very free and very happy to be a composer. Esa-Pekka Salonen composervery-happyfeels I discovered that the people of the North are different and there's no way you can make a person from the North similar to a Southerner. They're two different worlds. Esa-Pekka Salonen differenttwopeople Los Angeles is just a more open place. The way L.A. functions is that people give you a forum. They say, Show us what you can do. Esa-Pekka Salonen givingpeopleway I was starting a group of musicians and we had a group of young composers in Finland back in the '70s, and the real conductors, the professional conductors at the time were not interested in our stuff. Esa-Pekka Salonen groupsmusicianreal
