1.
Applause should be an emotional response to the music, rather than a regulated social duty.
Emanuel Ax
2.
I have been trying to find out exactly when listeners and performers decided that applause between movements would not be allowed, but nobody seems to have been willing to admit that they were the culprit.
Emanuel Ax
3.
Mozart often wrote to his family that certain variations or sections of pieces were so successful that they had to be encored immediately, even without waiting for the entire piece to end.
Emanuel Ax
4.
We should welcome applause whenever it comes.
Emanuel Ax
5.
I have been coming to Los Angeles since 1975 to perform.
Emanuel Ax
6.
When one plays a Steinway, there is a warmth and nobility in the sound that is unequalled by any other instrument.
Emanuel Ax
7.
I have always thought that my ear is also very influenced by my eyes.
Emanuel Ax
8.
Pianists don't argue too much generally because we have a hard enough time just getting things right. Arguing is for string players.
Emanuel Ax
9.
We seem to have set up some very arcane rules as to when it is actually OK to applaud.
Emanuel Ax
10.
Sometimes I wish that applause would come just a bit later, when it is so beautifully hushed that I feel like holding my breath in the silence of the end.
Emanuel Ax
11.
All of us love applause, and so we should - it means that the listener likes us!
Emanuel Ax
12.
If the audience walks out of a concert thinking, What a wonderful experience, then we have done our job.
Emanuel Ax
13.
The sheer force of the music calls for a wild audience reaction.
Emanuel Ax
14.
Even if you don't like a concert of mine, please, please applaud at the end anyway.
Emanuel Ax
15.
Everyone is different. Sometimes it's very exciting; sometimes very scary.
Emanuel Ax
16.
I think competition in any kind of activity like music, art, literature - anything that's not done with a timer - is actually impossible. So, in effect, what you're doing is you're entering the lottery. You're hoping that you play well (and that) you play your best on the day that you're heard, and you're hoping that the people who are judging will like what you do.
Emanuel Ax
17.
If there were no rules about when to applaud, we in the audience would have the right response almost always.
Emanuel Ax
18.
I usually only play with very close friends.
Emanuel Ax
19.
Everybody makes his path differently.
Emanuel Ax
20.
How wonderful it is to play with someone you feel very close to.
Emanuel Ax
21.
It is wonderful to see how happy all my friends in the LA Philharmonic are in their new home.
Emanuel Ax