Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
When I was seven years old, I was leading a quartet and trio, and that really laid the groundwork for me as a musician.
I'm more creative the more rules I have - note values, tempos, dynamic markings. Somehow, I find that really inspiring.
When we try to find our sense of security, value, worth from our work, we'll find ourselves anxiety-ridden and burdened.
Just imagine yourself in a wheelchair. Go through the building. If there's a place you can't go in, it's not accessible.
Kids can be born with potential but unless it's encouraged - pushed, even - I don't think it will ever come to fruition.
I started skiing around the same time as I began playing the piano, at around four, before moving to the violin at five.
For every child prodigy that you know about, at least 50 potential ones have burned out before you even heard about them.
It is good medicine to go to a concert hall and forget the harshness of what's going on. It can be a very positive thing.
Even if you're playing Brahms or a Beethoven concerto, you've got to have a different vantage point, slightly, each time.
We had 10 children in our family. We all helped each other - we had to to exist, especially when we were out on the farm.
My grandparents on my mom's side played in a mandolin orchestra. So when I hear mandolins, I automatically think of them.
Life is always full of challenges. I believe you're never happy unless you're consistently making challenges for yourself.
If the Almighty himself played the violin, the credits would still read 'Rubinstein, God, and Piatigorsky', in that order.
Beethoven's symphonies are not 'relaxing.' They are the most exciting things that have ever been created by a human being.
Taking on music that's not played very much is a contribution I can give. There's so much I feel that needs more attention.
I think the things that I learned that stick with me are things you often repeat, even today, which is never stop learning.
Musicians coming together at a time of need is one of the great traditions in this country. It's like people taking charge.
No matter what side of an argument you're on, you always find some people on your side that wish you were on the other side.
There's nothing more frustrating than seeing a conductor say, 'Play softer,' as they're waving their hands in huge gestures.
Improvisation is not the expression of accident but rather of the accumulated yearnings, dreams and wisdom of our very soul.
I like working with kids because I enjoy seeing the looks on their faces and, it's kind of selfish, I want a future audience.
I want to prove that you don't have to conform to be accepted. The greatest Value comes from loving yourself for who you are.
I see it as my job to try to keep Bach in the mainstream and present his music with, rather than without, its emotional core.
I can only think of music as something inherent in every human being - a birthright. Music coordinates mind, body and spirit.
When you play for ticket-holders, you are already validated. I have no sense that I need to be accepted. I'm already accepted.
I've always been accused of moving around too much when I play concertos. Sometimes, conductors ask me which of us is leading.
It's been very exciting for me to start directing and conducting, exploring the symphonic repertoire, which I've always loved.
The variations I've composed on the graceful Neapolitan ditty, 'Oh Mamma, Mama Cara,' outshine everything. I can't describe it
It is a real piece of art if you can make a waltz sound like it is the easiest piece of music to play, because it's really not.
Kids need to be structured in some way, but you don't want to force something down their throats that they have no interest in.
Music - you need the give and take from the audience, the feeling of attention. It's not about me: it's about the music itself.
Someone who directs a film, they have to see the overall picture, and they have to get the best performances out of the actors.
I originally went to school to be a filmmaker. And so it's a big part of how I think and how I write. And it inspires me a lot.
Our dad played us a lot of old country songs by The Carter Family and he would sing along to it. I loved listening to him sing.
When you are 8 or 9, you should have a childhood. You should have adolescence. You should go through everything in a normal way.
Music has a lot in common with mathematics. But in music, two and two need not make four: they add up to whatever you wish.
I'm addicted to the adrenaline of performing, and I think when you're used to having that high, you look for it in other things.
But I don't mind, I'm a bit of a touring animal. When I'm on tour that is the greatest thrill for me, playing to a live audience.
Other people might want a Ferrari, but I wanted a butterfly house. I built it together with a blacksmith. We designed it together.
A conductor has to know how to translate music into a communicative force that makes the listener want to hear what he has to say.
In difficult times, people just like to hear music. They like to be moved by what they hear. And music speaks different languages.
For me, music has been, in a sense, my religion, and it is what brings me closest to God or truth or whatever you want to call it.
My teacher was still practicing Bach until his death at 89. I have no doubt that if I live that long, I'll be doing the same thing.
Music is the thousandth of a millisecond between one note and another; how you get from one to the other-that's where the music is.
The one thing in my contract that they have backstage for me is bananas. And usually my assistant will go and get me chicken broth.
I've always believed that the range or depth of emotion can be great, whether you're play a three-minute piece, or a half-hour work.
If you play something well, I don't care what it is. I mean, I don't play an electric [violin] - I tried. It's actually interesting.
I've been lucky to conduct the very best orchestras in the world: New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Berlin, the London Philharmonic.
Anyone who knows classical music and loves classical music has heard the Beethoven Seventh hundreds of times probably in their life.
All work flows from some underlying assumptions, and the content of that faith can dramatically change our expectations for our work.