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:
“Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise. Once and again one of those great influences which we call a Cause arises in the midst of a nation. Men of strenuous minds and high ideals come forward.... The attacks they sustain are more cruel than the collision of arms.... Friends desert and despise them.... They stand alone and oftentimes are made bitter by their isolation.... They are doing nothing less than defy public opinion, and shall they convert it by blows. Yes.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“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)
“Whoever influences the child’s life ought to try to give him a positive view of himself and of his world. The child’s future happiness and his ability to cope with life and relate to others will depend on it.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)