For about four years, all I did was watch television. I suppose my parents should have stopped me. — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
It's so easy for all the success in the world to suddenly end, and I'm quite aware of that. — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
Brahms is life-changing every time. And though I love him, I can't say that about Mompou. — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
Few occupations pass the solitary hours more fruitfully than the playing of a musical instrument. — Stephen Hough Career Copy Share Image
The daily glitter of skyscrapers competing with the stars is an unnecessary, unforgivable decadence. — Stephen Hough Competing Copy Share Image
Playing the piano is incredibly personal... But when it's your own piece, it's doubly so. — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
Why do people compose music? Why do people listen to music? When we go into a concert, we go into a place… — Stephen Hough Experience Copy Share Image
The 'Rhapsody' has a lean, modern, American feel about it, whereas with Rachmaninoff's second and third concertos, you feel very much you're… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
The hierarchy is set out for me. The first priority is piano. I have to be 101 percent prepared. I find that… — Stephen Hough Creative juices Copy Share Image
I was only listening to rock music, burning joss sticks in my bedroom, wanting only to be a disc jockey, and watching… — Stephen Hough Alienation Copy Share Image
Unlike sport, music is not about winning or keeping fit or promoting your town or school; it's about celebrating, to a level… — Stephen Hough Celebrating Copy Share Image
I love food, but if I find a restaurant I like in a new city, I can eat every meal there, and… — Stephen Hough City Copy Share Image
When you're a kid, Beethoven is Beethoven, but as I've grown older, my astonishment at the sheer inventiveness of the man has… — Stephen Hough Appreciation Copy Share Image
Painting is just a hobby. I really don't think of it much more than that. But writing music and writing words... my… — Stephen Hough Artist Copy Share Image
In Britten or Berg, there's a tension between the sweet and the sour, between the familiar and the unfamiliar, the tonal and… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
There must be so many people who have various artistic talents that, for whatever reason, just have no way of expressing them.… — Stephen Hough Art Copy Share Image
The piano is an instrument that can easily sound overly thick, and I love to think that I can work with textures… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
At moments of acute joy or sorrow, men and women throughout history have sung or reached for musical instruments to express the… — Stephen Hough Emotional Copy Share Image
I was out of the U.K. as a care-free, fun-loving student for much of Mrs. Thatcher's time in Downing Street, and as… — Stephen Hough Downing street Copy Share Image
Before the 20th century, to be a successful musician was merely to be one who was employed. A few, such as Liszt,… — Stephen Hough Choice Copy Share Image
I enjoy painting. It's an incredible release of tension, and I feel very excited doing it. I squeeze out some wonderful red… — Stephen Hough Artist Copy Share Image
Learning great works like the Liszt Sonata or Beethoven's 'Hammerklavier' should be a struggle to a certain extent, where you need to… — Stephen Hough Brain Copy Share Image
I don't listen to music a lot in that I rarely sit down and put on a CD because I really want… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
I've loved Alfred Cortot's playing from an early age, and I never tire of hearing his recordings, particularly Chopin and Schumann from… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
If they say they don't like the way I play Beethoven, then I can swallow that, and maybe they're right. But if… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
Debussy is one of the few composers who actually created a new sound on the piano - or perhaps we should say… — Stephen Hough Debussy Copy Share Image
In superficial terms, to have an orchestral career is to be better than others, or at least to be chosen over others… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
Whether such socialism is foolish naivety or heroic idealism is a matter of opinion, but what is certain is that, however many… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
In every generation, politicians let us down, but music can lift us above the fighting and the mistakes. It does not offer… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
To me, spirituality is the everyday stuff which we're dealing with all the time. It's not going into some ecstatic trance. It's… — Stephen Hough Day Copy Share Image
I just found the piano so fascinating and wonderful, and I begged my parents to buy me one. In the end, they… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
I love listening to things like those wonderful piano pieces of Stockhausen. It's just not my thing as a composer or performer,… — Stephen Hough Goodness Copy Share Image
Bach and Beethoven erected temples and churches on the heights. I only wanted to build dwellings for men in which they might… — Stephen Hough Dwellings Copy Share Image
If I'm walking along the street, ideas come. Ideas about things that I'm interested in. I've jotted them down in the past… — Stephen Hough Ideas Copy Share Image
Schubert, Franck, and Liszt were all Roman Catholics who questioned or doubted or lived in different ways, and religion was certainly part… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
In school, my favourite class was when we were given a subject for an essay on which we could freewheel. And poetry:… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
Most people are at a concert because they want to be inspired, entertained, moved; we musicians have the mission to be bringers… — Stephen Hough Concert Copy Share Image
To me, the heart of the ministry lies in being able to help deeply distressed people, not because of your own qualities… — Stephen Hough Being Copy Share Image
Many people who don't like Rachmaninov's style consider the 'Rhapsody' his masterpiece. It's written fantastically well for orchestra and piano. He combines… — Stephen Hough Copy Share Image
There's certainly no doubt that commercialism has entered classical music to such a degree that almost no one seems to care anymore… — Stephen Hough Classical Copy Share Image
