Top 80 Quotes & Sayings by Krzysztof Penderecki - Page 2

Writing music is something very natural... this is the way to communicate with other people.

I'm not a minimalist, not at all. I feel much better, safer even, having a large piece.

When the Second World War started, I was only five but I still remember... Being a witness... I wanted people to remember what happened in our country and elsewhere.

The communists saw what we did in the arts as the only product of socialism that was known in the West, so they tolerated it.

I started studying counterpoint and theory with a physicist whose hobby was music.

I used to do most of my composing at a little table in a cafe. Composing for 52 instruments, I had to figure out how to accommodate myself to the small table.

For years, my favorite composers had been Monteverdi and Bach. Then I began to rediscover the 19th century, see it from another perspective.

I don't believe in a composer who is only able to compose, who can't play or conduct, can only use a computer. If that trend continues there will be no more symphonies, no more oratorios.

Usually composers need a reason to write. I need a deadline.

I grew up at the time of Social Realism in Poland, when everyone was supposed to be 'writing for the workers.' But I soon became allergic to this. I have never written for audiences. I like it if they appreciate my music. But I would never change my style for them.

I take commissions because I know I'll have to get up early in the morning and work.

The circumstances In which I grew up In Poland were not auspicious for humor.

Everyone is born lazy.

I have about 1,700 species of trees, almost everything that can grow in our climate.

I have found my perfect place on earth in Poland, in Luslawice, near Krakow.

At school, I wrote in the style of the Dutch composers. After I graduated, a new style set in.

I have lived through very difficult times.

I always had my roots in the past.

I think the best publicity I can get for my music is to conduct it.

I have always had an audience for my music, even in the very avant garde, crazy times.