“With creative people, truly new horizons open up.”
“In fact, the element of play has an important role in my life, and I think that should be the case in the life of every artist. Our life is occupied with playing, whether we play an instrument or a role.”
“The future? Like unwritten books and unborn children, you don’t talk about it.”
“And what unity is to be had, at a time when orchestras are dying out, and when opera houses are about to close their doors; what’s going to come next – when nothing new in music, for the orchestra, is truly lasting: pieces are performed once, and then they’re thrown away.”
“Admittedly, it is really our duty, as artists, to hold up a mirror to our own era; but, on the other hand, these works have lives of their own, and they’re still alive today.”
“Rather, I believe that it is very good, if, with the aid of his songs, we can be reminded, among other things, of the social conditions under which Schubert had to work.”
“But, on the other hand, if Schubert were alive today, he would find even richer fields to plow.”
“The composition of a single melody is born out of a bit of text, perhaps the first line, but it can also be the entire strophe; it can even be the poem’s overall form.”
“Many, many composers have only found their way to a certain form, through familiarizing themselves with texts.”
“Brahms believed that there was no need to publish absolutely everything that Schubert ever wrote.”
“Toward the end of his life, one can sense that he was no longer thinking his way into the minds of others, causing them to speak on his behalf, but that he was now speaking for himself.”
“Which is why, in my lieder concerts, I always strove, when possible, to sing only the works of a single composer, so that the audience could be gradually drawn into a particular creative genius’ way of thinking, and could follow him.”
“If you only do little clusters – three or four songs by one, and another, and then yet another – you lose the opportunity to think your way into the composer’s mind, since, after all, most of these pieces are quite brief.”
“In Romanticism, the main determinant is the mood, the atmosphere. And in that regard, you could also describe Schubert as a Romantic.”
“Within each individual young person you meet, you have the same fields to plow. The trick is just to wake thmem up, to sharpen their ears for what’s already there in the music.”
“It’s not all that different with the orchestra. There are orchestras that seem to be encased in dough, so that first you have to break through the normal routine, and clear out the openings.”
“What concerns me, is the general social tendency to enforce a level, above which nothing rises and stands out.”
“Anyone who draws attention to himself as an individual, is viewed with suspicion. We acquired this tendency, of course, from America, and we must resist it: levelling, and imitation of what others are already doing.”
“All music has to speak in some form or other.”
“It is desirable that people make music on the breath, with the breath.”
“But the thing that will always occupy me the most is music.”
“Particularly at around the age of 70 you reach a stage where you have to be very careful. If, at that point, you abandon the work you have been doing, there is a good chance that you will just collapse and drift.”
“I came together with younger musicians and tried to pass on my own experiences. In the process, I always tried to maintain my curiosity and spontaneity.”
“Unfortunately, it happens all too seldom that you really disappear behind a work, that you are no longer audible as an interpreter.”
“When you go out onto the stage, all the preparation has to be forced into your subconscious. For the moment of the performance, we all have to return to a new level of unconsciousness. All the reflection and all the doubts have to be laid aside before you start.”
“You can’t do opera when already from the 10th row you can only see little dolls on the stage. In such an enormous space you can’t put much faith in the personal presence of the individual singer, which is reflected in facial expressions, among other things.”
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