I don't like to hurry. I'm not a conductor of the fast, fiery romantic type. I prefer Bruckner, with the sincerity of his musical language and the huge time spans in which his ideas develop, to Mahler, with his hysteria and self-indulgence.
For me to rehearse with a children's orchestra a Mahler symphony was to really work. We had three or four weeks of rehearsal with the orchestra, every day eight or nine hours, putting the First together. I had been conducting Tchaikovsky a lot and Be...
Although, I am proud of all my Symphonies as they all have something special to say, my particular favourite is the Fifth. As the great Mahler expert Donald Mitchell said that if Mahler had written another Symphony, it would have been my Fifth!
Animals have genes for altruism, and those genes have been selected in the evolution of many creatures because of the advantage they confer for the continuing survival of the species.
During the rests - pray.
Beauty is less important than quality.
...the life of the planet began the long, slow process of modulating and regulating the physical conditions of the planet. The oxygen in today's atmosphere is almost entirely the result of photosynthetic living, which had its start with the appearanc...
It is not together, but the ensemble is perfect.
Initially we performed in halls with capacities of 1,000.
The longeswt love, is the love that cant be!
There is a shadow on every page.
In Chicago, they die for their teams.
You have to be able to enthral and persuade at the same time.
I love to conduct opera.
To do it always right, that is what music is to me.
My life is so full of sacrifices.
The musical equivalent of St Pancras Station. (on Elgar)
What I never overcame is a kind of shyness.
An orchestra full of stars can be a disaster.
I like to sing to Verdi, I like singing to Sibelius, and Mahler maybe.
Preparing for a future in music is an expensive proposition.