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

I shall never be converted, and I shall remain true to my old religion of the classics until my life's end..

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

Never look at the trombones, you'll just encourage them..

The aria, after all, is the soul of opera..

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

He'd be better off shoveling snow..

The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but the most difficult to play..

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….

If you think that the brass is not blowing loud enough, mute it by a couple of degrees..

I may not be a first-rate composer, but I am a first-class second-rate composer..

I want to be able to depict in music a glass of beer so accurately that every listener can tell whether it is a Pilsner or a Kulmbacher..

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

Never look at the brass - it only encourages them..

On conducting: If you can just barely hear the French horns on stage, the balance is perfect..