Once you get over the first hill, there is always a new, higher one lurking, of course.

I think truth as an idea should be left to the philosophers and perhaps religious leaders and politicians, and professional people who deal with that idea.

With American orchestras, in particular, because they play in such huge halls, getting a true pianissimo is very hard.

Somehow, conductor as this superhuman conduit between the masters and the masterpieces and the immortals.

This country, and the West Coast, especially, is bad at preserving any cultural legacy.

I actually don't like this term, "classic." It's wrong, but we don't have a better word at the moment.

Conducting is intensely social. You work with a hundred people every day. You collaborate, you try to focus their thoughts, you try to give them a concept, you try to inspire them, and it's actually exhausting.