I would never have become music director of the Chicago Symphony, which would have been an extremely sad loss.

Between the two men, somewhere, a truth is lying, and that is what I try to find.

I have a theory that there is something abnormal about children who like to practice instruments They are either geniuses or, more often, completely untalented. I certainly did not like to practice, and the teacher who hit me, and the view of the park, did not help to improve my attitude.

During the first six years of my life, Hungary was one of the most important components of the Habsburg dynasty's vast Austro-Hungarian Empire, but after World War I it became an independent national entity.

I can only hope that neither of them was scarred by their upbringing.

The joy of working with the Chicago Symphony was immeasureable.

I would never have become music director of the Chicago Symphony, which would have been an extremely sad loss.