26 Quotes by Alan Hovhaness

My mother's background was Scottish. She came from an old family, some of whom lived in upper New York State and some of whom had come over from Scotland.

This is not to say that the Scots are not fine people, but they were all sort of... well, my grandfather was a minister and sort of Protestant, and this was rather depressing to me.

There are certain composers I have always admired very much, but I have always admired nature mostly and the music of the Orient.

The greater the emotional intensity, the greater the simplicity.

There is nothing like practice.

To me, atonality is against nature. There is a center to everything that exists. The planets have the sun, the earth, the moon.

My purpose is to create music not for snobs, but for all people, music which is beautiful and healing. To attempt what old Chinese painters called 'spirit resonance' in melody and sound.

The composer...joins Heaven and Earth with threads of sounds.

Also, many very good records of contemporary music have been allowed to disappear. They don't recut them even when they are successful.