George Crumb

The future will be the child of the past and the present, even if a rebellious child. ”

I think we're in a very low point of music right now. ”

I am certain that most composers today would consider today's music to be rich, not to say confusing, in its enormous diversity of styles, technical procedures, and systems of esthetics. ”

I frequently hear our present period described as uncertain, confused, chaotic. ”

The advent of electronically synthesized sound after World War II has unquestionably had enormous influence on music in general. ”

Most of my influences are turn-of-the-century. ”

One very important aspect of our contemporary musical culture - some might say the supremely important aspect - is its extension in the historical and geographical senses to a degree unknown in the past. ”

Unquestionably, our contemporary world of music is far richer, in a sense, than earlier periods, due to the historical and geographical extensions of culture to which I have referred. ”

I have observed, too, that the people of the many countries that I have visited are showing an ever increasing interest in the classical and traditional music of their own cultures. ”

Although technical discussions are interesting to composers, I suspect that the truly magical and spiritual powers of music arise from deeper levels of our psyche. ”