If they say they don't like the way I play Beethoven, then I can swallow that, and maybe they're right. But if they don't like what I've written, then it's about me.
Stephen HoughRead
It's very hard to come up with ideal situations... With different moods and the difficulties of traveling around, I often play my best under the worst conditions.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the ability to succeed despite challenging circumstances.
Stephen Hough emphasizes that ideal conditions are rare and often unattainable, suggesting that true talent and capabilities are revealed when faced with adversity. The quote encourages embracing difficulties as opportunities for growth and excellence, illustrating that some of the best performances arise from the most challenging situations.
In practice
A motivational speaker might use this quote to inspire an audience dealing with difficult times.
If they say they don't like the way I play Beethoven, then I can swallow that, and maybe they're right. But if they don't like what I've written, then it's about me.
Unlike sport, music is not about winning or keeping fit or promoting your town or school; it's about celebrating, to a level approaching ecstasy, the deepest human longings.
Life is an incurable disease leading to death, but it's also an unrequested gift, which, if we can manage to keep giving it away to others, can keep giving back everything to us.
All things of beauty can speak to us of God, and I'm very happy to listen to and be inspired by people of every religious background.
Live in the present moment. The past and future are nonexistent. Only the present can be grasped or, better, embraced.
In Britten or Berg, there's a tension between the sweet and the sour, between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the tonal and the atonal, the happy and the sad. That, to me, is what all western art is about - that tension. It's why we want to say anything at all.
God doesn't require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.
I'm drawn to failure. I feel like I'm contending with it constantly in my own life.
Imma be what I set out to be without a doubt undoubtedly.
...it occurred to me that the voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true, because there is always the thought that everything might be done better and again.
Now is the only time there is. Make your now wow, your minutes miracles, and your days pay. Your life will have been magnificently lived and invested, and when you die you will have made a difference.
I would advise you to keep your overhead down; avoid a major drug habit; play everyday, and take it front of other people. They need to hear it, and you need them to hear it.
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