Today, conducting is a question of ego: a lot of people believe they are actually playing the music.
Daniel BarenboimSound is often talked about in a very subjective way, as if it had a colour. This is a bright sound, this is a dark sound. I don't believe in that because I think that is much too subjective.
Daniel BarenboimIn times of totalitarian or autocratic rule, music (indeed culture in general) is often the only avenue of independent thought. It is the only way people can meet as equals, and exchange ideas. Culture then becomes primarily the voice of the oppressed and it takes over from politics as a driving force for change.
Daniel BarenboimGermany will never be a real, free thinking and free feeling friend of Israel, because it will always fall under this shadow.
Daniel Barenboim