The artist must forget the audience, forget the critics, forget the technique, forget everything but love for the music. Then, the music speaks through the performance, and the performer and the listener will walk togetherwith the soul of the composer, and with God.

Mstislav Rostropovich
About This Quote

The artist must forget the audience, forget the critics, forget the technique, forget everything but love for the music.Then, the music speaks through the performance,and the performer and the listener will walk togetherwith the soul of the composer, and withGod. This quote by a well known musician was in response to a critic who asked him how he makes his music. The musician said that in order for him to be in a state of creative flow he must stop thinking about his audience and critics. He says if he does this, when he performs his music it comes from a place of love for his audience. As a result, his listeners feel love when they hear it performed by him.

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More Quotes By Mstislav Rostropovich
  1. The artist must forget the audience, forget the critics, forget the technique, forget everything but love for the music. Then, the music speaks through the performance, and the performer and the listener will walk togetherwith the soul of the composer, and with God.
  2. People are craving this great progress in electronics, going after computers, the Internet, etc. It's a giant progress technologically. But they must have a balance of soul, a balance for human beauty. That means art has an important role.
  3. When I started learning the cello, I fell in love with the instrument because it seemed like a voice - my voice.
  4. Every man must have the right fearlessly to think independently and express his opinion about what he knows, what he has personally thought about and experienced, and not merely to express with slightly different variations the opinion which has been inculcated in him.
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