Donal Henahan Quotes

• On the subject of wild mushrooms, it is easy to tell who is an expert and who is not: The expert is the one who is still alive.

  Donal Henahan

  Death, Mushrooms, Dying

  "John Cage, Elfin Enigma, at 64" by Donal Henahan, www.nytimes.com. October 22, 1976.

  39 Copy quote

• The more disastrous the mishaps the simpler the reviewing task.

  Donal Henahan

  Tasks, Mishaps

  "Music View; When Inspired Awfulness Becomes Interesting" by Donal Henahan, www.nytimes.com. August 31, 1986.

  8 Copy quote

• It might be argued that genuine spontaneity is not really possible or desirable so long as printed scores of great works exist. All modern musicians are, for better or worse, prisoners of Gutenberg.

  Donal Henahan

  Long, Musician, Gutenberg

  "Music View; Whatever Happened To Spontaneity In Performance?" by Donal Henahan, www.nytimes.com. May 13, 1984.

  65 Copy quote

• Next to the writer of real estate advertisements, the autobiographer is the most suspect of prose artists.

  Donal Henahan

  Real, Artist, Next

  7 Copy quote

• Miss Petrowska,an excellent pianist, held the audience transfixed with Chou Wen-chung’s work. Miss Petrowska was coolness itself in getting the hardware into the piano and out again…in Messiaen, a feeling for the music’s reverent sobriety combined to produce an absorbing performance.

  Donal Henahan

  Piano, Sobriety, Missing

  4 Copy quote

• The human brain can soften as a result of incessant listening to music with an intent to commit prose.

  Donal Henahan

  Brain, Listening, Incessant

  "Music View; When Inspired Awfulness Becomes Interesting" by Donal Henahan, www.nytimes.com. August 31, 1986.

  8 Copy quote

• The irrepressible spirit that made his playing seem like good conversation is the Rubinstein legacy for pianists, if they can pick up their heads from the keyboard long enough to claim it.

  Donal Henahan

  Art, Long, Legacy

  4 Copy quote

• Real folk music long ago went to Nashville and left no known survivors.

  Donal Henahan

  Real, Nashville, Long Ago

  4 Copy quote

• [Rubinstein was] a fountain from which music spouted, not a recitalist.

  Donal Henahan

  Fountain

  4 Copy quote

• Pianists of extraordinary talent, such as Christina Petrowska,spend a large part of their early lives perfecting technique…Miss Petrowska,a Canadian with a phenomenal ability to play the most difficult music cleanly, gave a demonstration of her achievements at Carnegie Recital Hall. A product of the Juilliard School who studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Gyorgy Ligeti in Europe, Miss Petrowska built most of her program around fiercely difficult contemporary works. She has fingers that work like chrome-plated pistons, and her high-seated position let her bring pulverizing power to bear.

  Donal Henahan

  School, Play, Europe

  "Dazzling, No More" by Donal Henahan, www.nytimes.com. May 18, 1977.

  4 Copy quote

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