The most perfect melodic shapes are found in Mozart; he has the lightness of touch which is the true objective ... Listen to the remarkable expansion of a Mozart melody, to Cherubino's 'Voi che sapete', for instance. You think it is coming to an end, but it goes farther, even farther.

Its a funny thing Alice, dying is just the way I composed it in Tod und Verklärung.

Must one become seventy years old to recognize that one's greatest strength lies in creating musical kitsch?

don't perspire while conducting - only the audience should get warm.

He'd be better off shoveling snow.

Ideas, like young wine, should be put in storage and taken up again only after they have been allowed to ferment and to ripen.

The most perfect melodic shapes are found in Mozart; he has the lightness of touch which is the true objective ... Listen to the remarkable expansion of a Mozart melody, to Cherubino's 'Voi che sapete', for instance. You think it is coming to an end, but it goes farther, even farther.