Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
In my imagination yes, I remember, when I was six years old, I was conducting all this concert in my house. But now it's real.
Composers and musicians have always starved and, as this is a sentimental country, we think the tradition should be continued.
The major difference between the 'best' and the 'average' is that the 'best' get as much pleasure from practice as performance.
In Europe, there is so much tradition, and everyone has established ideas as to what art should be and what it has always been.
If I tell the Berliners to step forward, they do it. If I tell the Viennese to step forward, they do it, but then they ask why.
Nobility of spirit has more to do with simplicity than ostentation, wisdom rather than wealth, commitment rather than ambition.
If you receive a whole string of bad reviews, you have to say, 'O.K., maybe there's something here we should pay attention to.'
In truth, I became a conductor because deep down I wanted to conduct Brahms's four symphonies and Richard Strauss's tone poems.
There is a school in Israel called Hand in Hand which I support. There Arab and Jewish students study together on a daily basis.
Let's keep people with weird religious faiths out of government. Especially those who have a weird religious faith IN government.
Los Angeles is just a more open place. The way L.A. functions is that people give you a forum. They say, Show us what you can do.
Music is a continuum and the modern and avant-garde composers of today will be part of the standard repertoire 30 years from now.
We listen too much to the telephone and too little to nature. The wind is one of my sounds. A lonely sound, perhaps, but soothing.
I can't imagine how many first performances I've done, perhaps 500. Some of them have been very good, and some of course very bad.
My worst and best qualities are rashness: the good part of it is due to youth, which is, of course, why I'm not a great conductor.
The trouble with women in an orchestra is that if they're attractive it will upset my players and if they're not it will upset me.
The Royal Festival Hall in London is nice; people hang out there. I think this inviting, non-exclusive character is very important.
There will have to be times when I'm not conducting because I'm composing. I haven't solved that problem, and perhaps I never will.
I don't really think about retiring. I will retire just before people start saying, 'I knew Leonard Slatkin when he conducted well.
I knew I could never match my father as a violinist, and there were already four generations of outstanding cellists in the family.
I don't get into politics, general or musical, but just call me if you get jury duty. Even in New Jersey I was able to help somebody.
Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Berg imply a type of pianist who is intellectual. That's not always associated with female soloists.
The grapevine in England is an extraordinary thing. When there is a really brilliant young composer or soloist, we all hear about it.
Compared to the typical Zim/Chomsky-spouting grad school clown, a trucker with a screaming eagle hat is a paragon of political nuance.
Our audience, it has been a more difficult process for classical music audiences around the world, and I'm not completely certain why.
I was told when I went for a life-insurance exam when I was 18 that I was not likely to live past 50, so I refused to pay the premium.
It is quite untrue that British people don't appreciate music. They may not understand it but they absolutely love the noise it makes.
Conducting! A subject, truly, concerning which much might be written, yet scarcely anything of real importance is to be found in books.
An orchestra knows during the first two minutes of the first rehearsal whether or not they are going to enjoy the person on the podium.
I've come to the conclusion that a long personal relationship is next to impossible for me. Ultimately, music is a possessive mistress.
I feel that the critic and music director should have such a good relationship they can pick up the phone and call each other any time.
I want to prove that Holst's 'The Planets' can be as much of a sensory overload as a concert by the Grateful Dead, and just as exciting.
There's not an orchestra in the world that doesn't have weaknesses. None of us can play everything well. The repertoire is just too big.
I've come to the conclusion that a long, personal relationship is next to impossible for me. Ultimately, music is a possessive mistress.
Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory.
There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between.
American musicians are very giving - they have the highest standard in the world - but they are also very demanding in their conditions.
In the measurement world, we set a goal and strive to achieve it. In the universe of possibility, we set the context and let life unfold.
I free-form it, rock n' roll it. I'm a creature of risk, so I don't know how I'm going to explore a Beethoven symphony until I'm doing it.
Classical music in Venezuela is now something like a pop concert. You can see people screaming or crying because they don't have a ticket.
Schooling, by definition, must be conservative. It is naturally dependent on an older generation’s level of knowledge and sense of values.
When it comes to government policy, can we please stop using words like "architect"? Telling people what to do is not a skilled profession.
Im one of the boys, no better than the last second violinist. Im just the lucky one to be standing in the center, telling them how to play.
Classical music is a wonderful 1200 year-old tradition that witnesses everything that it has meant and what it means right now to be human.
The sort of commercial parameters of classical music changed after the [World War II] , and the whole industry became more backward-looking.
I'm one of the boys, no better than the last second violinist. I'm just the lucky one to be standing in the center, telling them how to play.
In my lifetime, there have been three vocal miracles: Caruso, Ruffo and Ponselle. Apart from these there have been several wonderful singers.
When an artist works today or whenever, it's not about creating immortal masterpieces, because that's the one thing we don't decide ourselves.
I simply make music, and people have always been foolish enough to pay me for it. I never told them that I would have done it all for nothing.
When you are confronted with an opera, you have to keep an eye on everything: the musicians, the chorus, the ballet, the singers, the staging.