Quotes & Sayings About Messiaen

It's Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony I'm really looking forward to. Simon Rattle does it perfectly: he understands its primal rhythmic life force, and he and the wonderful Berliners make it a sheer riot of orchestral colour. — Charles Hazlewood

I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and have never heard them, make rhythms for those who know only military marches or jazz, and paint colors for those who see none. — Olivier Messiaen

No one should be allowed to make music as if he were made of wood. One must reproduce the musical text exactly, but not play like a stone. — Olivier Messiaen

It was around this time that I'd begun trying to perfect the art of fucking with people's minds. I'd figured out that when someone else was hogging the limelight, you could cut him down to size by bringing up a subject he didn't know anything about. If the other person knew a lot about literature, I'd talk about the Velvet Underground; if he knew a lot about rock, I'd talk about Messiaen; if he knew a lot about classical music, I'd talk about Roy Lichtenstein; if he knew a lot about pop art, I'd talk about Jean Genet; and so on. Do that in a small provincial city and you never lose an argument. — Ryu Murakami

The human being is flesh and consciousness, body and soul; his heart is an abyss which can only be filled by that which is godly. — Olivier Messiaen

My faith is the grand drama of my life. I'm a believer, so I sing words of God to those who have no faith. — Olivier Messiaen

A true music, that is to say, spiritual, a music which may be an act of faith; a music which may touch upon all subjects without ceasing to touch upon God; an original music, in short, whose language may open a few doors, take down some yet distant stars. — Olivier Messiaen

Miss Petrowska,an excellent pianist, held the audience transfixed with Chou Wen-chung's work. Miss Petrowska was coolness itself in getting the hardware into the piano and out again ... in Messiaen, a feeling for the music's reverent sobriety combined to produce an absorbing performance. — Donal Henahan

I would prefer to listen to a French classical composer like Olivier Messiaen than to the pop hits of the day. — Matt Groening

It's probable that in the artistic hierarchy birds are the greatest musicians existing on our planet. — Olivier Messiaen

Birds are the first and the greatest performers. — Olivier Messiaen