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:
“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)
“Professors of literature, who for the most part are genteel but mediocre men, can make but a poor defense of their profession, and the professors of science, who are frequently men of great intelligence but of limited interests and education, feel a politely disguised contempt for it; and thus the study of one of the most pervasive and powerful influences on human life is traduced and neglected.”
—Yvor Winters (1900–1968)
“Nothing changes more constantly than the past; for the past that influences our lives does not consist of what actually happened, but of what men believe happened.”
—Gerald W. Johnson (1890–1980)