Marc-Andre Hamelin Quotes

#1. A mission that comes from the heart to promote these things and to encourage composers to write, then of course they should do it. And there are more than a few pianists these days who do this, fortunately.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#2. I think one of the reasons [Nikolai] Medtner hasn't had a chance is that his music needs very, very committed performances. If you play his works passively, the juice of his music is really not going to be extracted - it's simply not going to come out.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#3. I never considered myself more able than anybody because I had problems just like anybody else. When I practiced, I solved problems, like any of my fellow students. I looked at my own work, and looked ahead, with blinders, almost.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#4. To be perfectly honest, I was never really aware that I had any special abilities. When you have what you have, you don't really think about what you don't have; you simply work with what you have.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#5. The process of putting intangible thoughts into an imperfect system of notation - which is difficult enough, depending on your ideas - acquaints you with how best to express your ideas so that it is as clear as possible to the performer.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#6. Every composer understands and uses the system of notation differently, and that's what makes you appreciate the trouble they go through in doing so.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#7. Very rarely do I work on mechanics now. I tend to solve problems within the music itself.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#8. My father ran the gamut: a favorite of his was Josef Hofmann, but there was also Friedman, Rachmaninoff, Godowsky, Lhevinne, Moiseiwitsch, Paderewski, etc.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#9. It's the vision of the composer that we have to determine, and not the absolute mathematical adherence of the score. In my experience, there have been occasions where I feel that a composer has not notated something as they meant to have it represented.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#10. I don't listen to recordings very much now, to be perfectly honest. I listened to them a lot when I was younger.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#11. As far as the style, I can't say there is one definite style. I probably feel most comfortable writing in a tonal idiom, with considerable, if not extreme chromaticism.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#12. There's a substantial portion of my recorded repertoire that was learned for the recording sessions, and then basically forgotten. I wouldn't say it's the majority, but it's a fairly good chunk of it.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#13. I think anybody who's willing to really sink their teeth into a work like the Hammerklavier, which is a very interesting, different experience, should look instead at something like the Sonata by Paul Dukas, which, in my opinion, is a real marvel.

Marc-Andre Hamelin

#14. I don't record for my own glory.I mean, of course part of it is for career advancement, but more importantly, I want some of that repertoire - as much of it as possible - to remain and enter pianists' consciousness and, hopefully, into the standard repertoire.

Marc-Andre Hamelin