The sound of the harpsichord resembles that of a bird-cage played with toasting-forks.

Composers and musicians have always starved and, as this is a sentimental country, we think the tradition should be continued.

Too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint.

I find brass bands have a melancholy sound. All right out of doors, of course - fifty miles away. Like bagpipes, they turn what had been a dream into a public nuisance.

"Have you heard any Stockhausen?" Beecham was asked. "No, but I believe I have stepped in some."

A musicologist is a man who can read music but cannot hear it.

There are no woman composers, never have been and possibly never will be.