Charles Mingus Quotes

I wish I could be more serious about painting. I think there may be something going on there and I should pursue it. I'm very old-fashioned - even with the music. I realize, while I have so much respect for the kookiness of people who go for it, who paint with their eyes closed, I am superclassical.

Listening to the Fifth Symphony of Ralph Vaughan Williams is like staring at a cow for 45 minutes.

I admire Johann Strauss a lot. I believe he was a genius of his time.

I'm a Beethoven freak. I listen to him all the time.

I love listening to classical music.

When I was studying... there weren't any black concert pianists. My choices were intuitive, and I had the technique to do it. People have heard my music and heard the classic in it, so I have become known as a black classical pianist.

Classical music has been based on works people love and come back to for aural comfort.

I just play the music that I love with musicians that I respect, and fortunately, I'm in a position where people are willing to play with me, and perhaps I can do something to help them.

I loved Hendrix. I mean, really, really loved him. As if he were one of the great classical composers. And he was. That's how I saw him.

I don't see myself necessarily having a burning desire to write a symphony.

The piece that had a large influence on me was Turangalila.

I happen to love Saint-Saens in general. I think he's a brilliant composer and sometimes underrated in a way because people like to pass him off as fluffy and not being serious.

The man on the street, he knows who Beethoven is, he knows who Mozart is.

Mozart, Beethoven - how can you not want to share them with everyone and anyone? This stuff is of as great importance as the food we eat and the air we breathe.

I remain loyal to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert in music and to Shakespeare and Jane Austen in literature.

I love music, especially classical like Verdi; it's a great way to relax.

I love stuff like Mozart.

I grew up in an era where an orchestra was like a treasure chest.

I work to Glenn Gould in the morning and go to sleep listening to Parsifal.

Anyone who knows classical music and loves classical music has heard the Beethoven Seventh hundreds of times probably in their life.

More people are listening to opera, and I'm happy - everybody must be given that opportunity.

If I could ever be on a Missy Elliott record, I could then die. Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige - I love hearing them interviewed, I love the way they talk about their art. They're very self-assured, they're funny, they're inviting. I love it.

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has ever penetrated into the ear of man.

Classical music is something that we're very passionate about, but we always thought it was presented in a stuffy way.

In the 1950s in the United States, few music lovers were listening to chamber music. Daddy played Bach and Haydn on our phonograph for me. Not only did I become familiar with the form; he discussed the concerti. My own head start. My own Head Start.