Quotes by Mahan Esfahani - Page 1

Well, harpsichord is kind of a big guitar, isn't it? I mean, it is plucked, after all.
Mahan Esfahani /
Guitar
Kind
Mean
Copy Quote
Well, within a phrase. And with a series of phrases, you can certainly create the effect of diminuendo and crescendo, no question.
Mahan Esfahani /
Crescendo
Phrases
Wells
Copy Quote
And it totally has transformed my relationship with someone like, say, Bach. You know, Bach is born 330 years ago but, you know, gosh, he really is alive.
Mahan Esfahani /
Alive
Born
Years
Copy Quote
The harpsichord was actually ideologically considered a very questionable instrument in that period, much like I think it's ideologically considered suspect today in some circles.
Mahan Esfahani /
Circles
Thinking
Today
Copy Quote
I played piano. I've always liked piano. My father played piano. Actually, to be fair, the sound of the harpsichord did annoy him a bit, and I thought, how can I annoy Dad? I'll play the harpsichord.
Mahan Esfahani /
Dad
Father
Play
Copy Quote
When I say that there's commonality, I mean more in terms of the sort of techniques by which we perceive Baroque and minimalist music rather than the techniques used to compose them. I know that's being sort of overly complicated.
Mahan Esfahani /
Complicated
Mean
Technique
Copy Quote
I mean, already in the French Revolution, the harpsichord becomes identified with the aristocracy, with the ancien regime. Plus, hey, you know, I mean, harpsichord is a really easy target, isn't it? I mean, it's - it's just how it is.
Mahan Esfahani /
Aristocracy
Mean
Revolution
Copy Quote
I think in Baroque music, especially in the case of Bach, what really transformed Bach's musical language, what changed it for him was hearing Vivaldi, hearing the sort of manipulation of small cells of information and patterns in order to generate sort of huge blocks of harmony.
Mahan Esfahani /
Block
Cells
Thinking
Copy Quote
I mean to me, the harpsichord has a huge dynamic range. And I always say to people, come and listen to it. You know, come and listen. Come and actually experience this and realize there's good harpsichord playing, there's bad harpsichord playing. By the way, I am fun outside of this context.
Mahan Esfahani /
Fun
Mean
People
Copy Quote
As long as there's a place for sundials and gardening and beautiful things, there's a place for the harpsichord. I completely reject the idea that harpsichord is old. And I reject the idea that something old is therefore not good or not popular. Lots of things are old. Lots of traditions are old - cooking, art. I like it because it's beautiful.
Mahan Esfahani /
Art
Beautiful
Ideas
Copy Quote
Bach, of course, was my first love. He still is. I mean, he's the man of my life, that's for sure. And when I say that there's been a re-evaluation, look, to be perfectly honest, I think I have a re-evaluation of my relationship with Bach probably every day, and that will never stop. And that's probably why I still get up in the morning and I do this.
Mahan Esfahani /
Morning
First Love
Mean
Copy Quote
Gorecki, you know, there's a kind of personal thing there for me. I had, you know, kind of become obsessed with that sort of Soviet Bloc period. And actually, a lot of composers in the Soviet Bloc - Gorecki's not the only one - are writing for the harpsichord as a sort of reaction against enforced Soviet realism, expressionism, sort of enforced modernism.
Mahan Esfahani /
Kind
Obsessed
Writing
Copy Quote
I think, you know, for someone who does play, let's say, old music or, you know, Baroque music or Renaissance music - and you know, and I do play a lot of that, obviously - engaging with new composers, engaging with young composers, is really exciting because it makes me look at people of the past in a very different way that they are also living, that there was a lot of subjectivity in the decisions that they were making.
Mahan Esfahani /
Past
Play
Thinking
Copy Quote
One of the tracks that I have is Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach - by the way, that's Bach's second son - Emanuel Bach's variations on "Le Folie." You'll definitely hear - I mean, I think if we listen to, say, the last couple of minutes of that track, there's a wide range of colors that the harpsichord is capable of. And I think, you know, that gives lie to the assumption that it doesn't have that kind of variety. And I think it very much speaks for itself.
Mahan Esfahani /
Couple
Lying
Mean
Copy Quote

Related Authors

Zig Ziglar
Author
Saturday, Nov 06, 1926
Wednesday, Nov 28, 2012
Vince Lombardi
Football Player
Wednesday, Jun 11, 1913
Thursday, Sep 03, 1970
Charles Spurgeon
Preacher
Thursday, Jun 19, 1834
Sunday, Jan 31, 1892
Niccolo Machiavelli
Historian
Monday, May 03, 1469
Tuesday, Jun 21, 1527
Stephen Hawking
Physicist
Thursday, Jan 08, 1942
Groucho Marx
Comedian
Thursday, Oct 02, 1890
Friday, Aug 19, 1977
Tyler, The Creator
Rapper
Wednesday, Mar 06, 1991
Carrie Fisher
Actress
Sunday, Oct 21, 1956
Tuesday, Dec 27, 2016
Maya Angelou
Author
Wednesday, Apr 04, 1928
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Ronald Reagan
40Th US President
Monday, Feb 06, 1911
Saturday, Jun 05, 2004
Rodney Dangerfield
Comedian
Tuesday, Nov 22, 1921
Tuesday, Oct 05, 2004
Walt Whitman
Poet
Monday, May 31, 1819
Saturday, Mar 26, 1892
Winston Churchill
Former Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom
Monday, Nov 30, 1874
Sunday, Jan 24, 1965
Wayne Dyer
Author
Friday, May 10, 1940
Saturday, Aug 29, 2015
Napoleon Bonaparte
Military Commander
Tuesday, Aug 15, 1769
Saturday, May 05, 1821

View All Quotes

Top Authors

Paulo Coelho
Lyricist
Sunday, Aug 24, 1947
Walt Disney
Animator
Thursday, Dec 05, 1901
Thursday, Dec 15, 1966
Albert Camus
Author
Friday, Nov 07, 1913
Monday, Jan 04, 1960
John Keats
Poet
Saturday, Oct 31, 1795
Friday, Feb 23, 1821
Oscar Wilde
Writer
Monday, Oct 16, 1854
Friday, Nov 30, 1900
John Lewis
U.s. Representative
Wednesday, Feb 21, 1940
John F. Kennedy
35Th U.s. President
Tuesday, May 29, 1917
Friday, Nov 22, 1963
Friedrich Nietzsche
Philologist
Tuesday, Oct 15, 1844
Saturday, Aug 25, 1900
Oprah Winfrey
Media Proprietor
Friday, Jan 29, 1954
John C. Maxwell
Author
Thursday, Feb 20, 1947
Epictetus
Philosopher
John Locke
Philosopher
Sunday, Aug 29, 1632
Tuesday, Oct 28, 1704
Dalai Lama
Saturday, Jul 06, 1935
Pope Francis
Thursday, Dec 17, 1936
Napoleon Hill
Author
Friday, Oct 26, 1883
Sunday, Nov 08, 1970

View All Authors

Mahan Esfahani Quotes - Page 1

App & Tools

Related Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page

Stay Connected

App & Tools

Related Authors

Popular Topic Tags

Top Authors

Share This Page