Influences
Larsen’s music is known both for its variety and its eclectic mixing of styles and colors. This undoubtedly comes from the wide range of musical influences in her life:
As a young child, she grew up learning Gregorian Chant from nuns at the Catholic school she attended. Her first piano teacher introduced her to many different styles of repertoire including Mozart, Bartok, Stravinsky, Japanese music and boogie. In college, she was influenced by her teachers Dominick Argento, Paul Fetler, and Eric Stokes.
However, she has not been influenced solely by her teachers. When asked about her influences, Larsen responded, “To tell the truth, my teachers have come to me from unexpected places in my musical life. They have been poets, architects, painters and philosophers. The other way I really learn is by reading scores voraciously, from Chuck Berry to Witold Lutosławski.” Her favorite composers are Hector Berlioz, Maurice Ravel, James Brown, Chuck Berry, Sergei Prokofiev, Big Mama Thornton, Harry Partch, and J.S. Bach.
Read more about this topic: Libby Larsen
Famous quotes containing the word influences:
“However diligent she may be, however dedicated, no mother can escape the larger influences of culture, biology, fate . . . until we can actually live in a society where mothers and children genuinely matter, ours is an essentially powerless responsibility. Mothers carry out most of the work orders, but most of the rules governing our lives are shaped by outside influences.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
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—Max Lerner (b. 1902)
“I don’t believe in villains or heroes, only in right or wrong ways that individuals are taken, not by choice, but by necessity or by certain still uncomprehended influences in themselves, their circumstances and their antecedents.”
—Tennessee Williams (1914–1983)