Of course there is no formula for success, except perhaps an unconditional acceptance of life, and what it brings
Composing a concert is like composing a menu.... If you start with light pieces and play a 45-minute sonata after the interlude, it's like starting dinner with hors d'oeuvres and dessert and finishing with a Châteaubriand and vegetables.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote compares the structure of a concert to the arrangement of a meal, emphasizing the importance of flow and pacing.
Arthur Rubinstein's quote draws a parallel between the art of composing a concert and crafting a well-structured menu. Just as a great meal progresses from light appetizers to heavier main courses, a concert should be thoughtfully organized, leading the audience through an emotional journey that maintains interest and enjoyment. The analogy suggests that both music and dining require a careful consideration of pacing to create a satisfying experience.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a music class to illustrate the importance of structure in compositions.
More from Arthur Rubinstein
All quotes →Sometimes when I sit down to practice and there is no one else in the room, I have to stifle an impulse to ring for the elevator man and offer him money to come in and hear me.
To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings - it's all a miracle. I have adopted the technique of living life miracle to miracle.
At every concert I leave a lot to the moment. I must have the unexpected, the unforeseen. I want to risk, to dare. I want to be surprised by what comes out. I want to enjoy it more than the audience. That way the music can bloom anew. It's like making love. The act is always the same, but each time it's different.
I'm a free person; I feel terribly free. They could put me in chains and I still would be free because my thoughts would be mine - and that's all I want to have.
To be alive, to able to see, to walk...it's all a miracle. I have adapted the technique of living life from miracle to miracle.
Similar quotes
The world has never before had as much drama as today. Radio, films, television and video inundate us with drama. But while these forms can engage or even enrage the audience, in none of them can the viewer’s response alter the artistic event itselfThat is why theatre is signing its own death warrant when it tries to play too safe. On the other hand, that is also the reason why, although its future often seems bleak, theatre will continue to live and to provoke.
With vocal and choral music, first and foremost, it's the text. Not only do I need to serve the text, but the text - when I'm doing it right - acts as the perfect 'blueprint', and all the architecture is there. The poet has done the heavy lifting, so my job is to find the soul of the poem and then somehow translate that into music.
The basis for my own work during the years just before coming to America in 1915 was a desire to break up forms - to 'decompose' them much along the lines the cubists had done. But I wanted to go further - much further - in fact, in quite another direction altogether.
Art is not for the cultivated taste. It is to cultivate taste.
A bit of advice, don't copy nature too closely. Art is an abstraction; as you dream amid nature, extrapolate art from it, and concentrate on what you will create as a result.
I want to know one thing, what is color?