Alan Hovhaness Quotations

The greater the emotional intensity, the greater the simplicity.

It's hard for me to think of others because I'm not particularly in sympathy with the music of this century.

I found a greater identity with my own emotions in the Armenian culture as I grew older, as well as from the beginning, although I didn't know anything about it.

I did all kinds of things in order to earn a living.

I think that of my 21 symphonies, each has its own place.

There is nothing like practice.

I was born in Somerville, but I don't remember very much about it because we moved from there to Arlington when I was five years old, and it was in Arlington that I spent most of my childhood.

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.

I was much more interested in the orchestra than the piano, but I did become fairly proficient as a pianist and my teachers felt I had talent and wanted me to become a good concert pianist and earn my living that way.

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