Top 112 Quotes & Sayings by Famous Conductors - Page 2

To be passionate in today's world is not politically correct... Nowadays we are supposed to cope. This was not Mahler's problem. He saw it, he heard it, and he expressed it. He was a kaleidoscopic, Olympian figure.

Throw yourself into life as someone who makes a difference, accepting that you may not understand how or why.

Think you have a low opinion of government? You should see government's opinion of you!

I'm so sorry for you; your lives have been so easy. You can't play great music unless your heart's been broken.

I have often said to the orchestra, especially to the younger players, 'Do your best, and love what you are doing, because you are allowed to do this thing.' By this I mean, they can do what millions of people cannot do. Many people cannot think of playing music or listening to it until six o'clock in the evening. To be involved professionally in a thing as creative as this is a great privilege and we have a duty to make it in such a way that we can help bring pleasure and a sense of fulfillment to those who are not so fortunate.

I feel that classical music should be a more recognizable part of everyone’s entertainment. It has been my hope that through live concerts, motion pictures, recordings, international competitions, and interesting public forums, a larger group of people will learn to love classical music and attend live concert performances.

I know nothing about this subject, but I do have prejudices, which I am more than happy to share with you.

As a boy I remember how terribly real the statues of the saints would seem at 7 o'clock Mass-before I'd had breakfast. From that I learned always to conduct hungry.

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.

Music appeals to me for what can be done with it.

No scientist, engineer, writer, psychologist, artist, or physician - and certainly no scholar, and therefore no serious university faculty member - pursues his or her vocation by getting right answers from a set of prescribed alternatives that trivialize complexity and ambiguity.

The Beethoven Experience provided the opportunity to solidify the relationship between the Orchestra and me, the Orchestra and me and the public, between all of us and the city of New York, because Beethoven after all is a really amazing point of reference.

I have a definition of success.

Those who have achieved all their aims probably set them too low.

As leaders, we're giving out grades in every encounter we have with people. We can choose to give out grades as an expectation to live up to, and then we can reassess them according to performance. Or we can offer grades as a possibility to live into. The second approach is much more powerful.

My job [is] to awaken possibility in other people. If their eyes are shining, you know you're doing it. If they're not shining you get to ask this question: "Who am I being that my children's eyes are not shining?"

I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth.

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.

Let's keep people with weird religious faiths out of government. Especially those who have a weird religious faith IN government.

Music comes from the heart and returns to the heart... music is spontaneous, impulsive expression... its range is without limit... music is forever growing... music can be one element to help us build a new conception of life in which the madness and cruelty of wars will be replaced by a simple understanding of the brotherhood of man.

No music is vulgar, unless it is played in a way that makes it so.

I think I infuse the music with a new passion. Part of this is because I have fallen in love: I am in love with the New York Philharmonic. The chemistry has just been right. Beyond expectation.

You know why conductors live so long? Because we perspire so much.

It's not a question of how much power you can hoard for yourself, but how much you can give away.

Apparently, I'm supposed to be more angry about what Mitt Romney does with his money than what Barack Obama does with mine.

Schooling, by definition, must be conservative. It is naturally dependent on an older generation’s level of knowledge and sense of values.

I’m definitely a feminist & proud of it.

It's hard to put into words the impact of the perfect lyric, melody or contagious beat that moves you in an unexpected way. Authors, composers and artists have tried - and here we've rounded up our favorite quotes that help to begin forming structure around such an unspoken universal force. Which are most meaningful to you? If you had to sum up the power of music and sound in one sentence, what would you say?"A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence."

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.

The three greatest composers are Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. All the others are cretins.

It seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon to produce, and so I endured this wretched existence an excitable body which a sudden change can throw from the best into the worst state. Patience I must now choose for my guide, and I have done so. Divine One, thou lookest into my inmost soul, thou knowest it, thou knowest that love of man and desire to do good live therein.

Dont bring a candlelight vigil to a gunfight

When it comes to government policy, can we please stop using words like "architect"? Telling people what to do is not a skilled profession.

If you make a mistake, celebrate.

In the beginning there was rhythm.

It will be a great day when taxpayers keep the money they earned and DC has to hold a bake sale to to raise the debt limit.

I love the sound of snow... You can hear it even if you are only standing on a balcony. [The sound] is only minimal, not even a real noise: a breath, a trifle of a sound. You have the same thing in music: if in the score there is a pianissimo marked that ends in nothing. Up thee you can feel this 'nothing'. With an orchestra it is very difficult to achieve it. The Berlin Philharmonic manage it sometimes.

I make myself a relentless architect of the possibilities of human beings.

I thought about the difference between a mama's girl and a daddy's girl. I decided that a daughter who belongs to her daddy expects gifts, while a daughter who belongs to her mama expects a lot more. Not from her mama. From herself.

I am still very proud of that concert. In America, the (musicians') connection with the conductor is as with management - it becomes political. You cannot conduct properly in this environment. I hate this enemy situation between management and orchestra members.

Success means pursuing a career that inspires you-brings passion to your life and totally absorbs your energy.

Life is revealed as a place to contribute and we as contributors. Not because we have done a measurable amount of good, but because that is the story we tell.

You must have the score in your head, not your head in the score.

Live the rest of your life in possibility

Everybody loves classical music they just don't know about it yet.

Quick music sounds dull unless every note is articulated.

How often do we stand convinced of the truth of our early memories, forgetting that they are assessments made by a child? We can replace the narratives that hold us back by inventing wiser stories, free from childish fears, and, in doing so, disperse long-held psychological stumbling blocks.

It’s one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he’s leading to realize whatever he’s dreaming. Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, ‘I have a dream. Of course, I’m not sure they’ll be up to it.

The job of the leader is to speak to the possibility.

Success can corrupt; usefulness can only exalt.

At best, most college presidents are running something that is somewhere between a faltering corporation and a hotel.

Who am I being that my players' eyes are not shining?