Sergei Prokofiev

"Formalism is music that people don’t understand at first hearing."

"This is my best work, but only because The Flaming Angel is my greatest."

"The time is past when music was written for a handful of aesthetes. Today vast crowds of people have come face to face with serious music and are waiting with eager impatience. Composers, take heed of this…But this does not mean that you must pander to this audience. Pandering always has an element of insincerity about it and nothing good ever came of that."

"Within the vast, virtually limitless piano repertoire, the piano sonatas of Sergei Prokofiev occupy a special place. Apart from Alexander Scriabin early in the century, Prokofiev was the only major twentieth-century composer to pay such consistent attention to the form, … They are a constant presence in concert programs and are considered an indispensable part of the repertoire by almost every serious concert pianist."

"Melodic line is an important structural element. It determines the direction and character of the musical motion and gives... musical shape to the rhythmically organized texture. Because of this, Prokofiev’s playing has a beautiful singing quality, without ever being sweet. Because of this, each piece in his performance has an uncommon finish and complete ness. From the beginning till the end, it is perceived as a purposeful un folding of the material and as a dynamically intensive development of musical ideas."

"My chief virtue (or if you like, defect) has been a tireless lifelong search for an original, individual musical idiom. I detest imitation, I detest hackneyed devices."