Unfortunately, it happens all too seldom that you really disappear behind a work, that you are no longer audible as an interpreter.

But, on the other hand, if Schubert were alive today, he would find even richer fields to plow.

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.

...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.

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.

All music has to speak in some form or other.

But the thing that will always occupy me the most is music.