In truth, I became a conductor because deep down I wanted to conduct Brahms's four symphonies and Richard Strauss's tone poems.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a deep personal motivation to conduct specific pieces of music by renowned composers.
Zubin Mehta reveals his intrinsic motivation for becoming a conductor, indicating that his passion for conducting was significantly influenced by his desire to interpret and bring to life the works of Brahms and Strauss. This highlights the idea that personal aspirations and deep-seated passions can drive individuals to pursue their chosen paths in life.
In practice
In a speech about pursuing one's dreams, this quote can illustrate the importance of passion in career choices.
Go to the young conductors who are not making it, and you will hear how we shouldn't push ourselves or sell ourselves, how they don't have the right connections and the right opportunities. Well, you can be sure they've had the opportunities.
Some musical directors have more chutzpah. They pick up the phone and talk people into giving. I prefer to call and say 'thank you' after the money has been contributed.
Hearing a whole entire room sing back to me, 'I guess it's true I'm not good at a one-night stand,' you know, I just can't explain the feeling. It's unreal. You feel like you've just read your diary to thousands of people and they've gone, 'It's okay. We still love you.'
When I sang my father's songs in concert, that was all people wanted to hear. I was always asking myself, 'Can I measure up?'
I wanna show that gospel, country, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll are all just really one thing. Those are the American music and that is the American culture.
Of emotions, of love, of breakup, of love and hate and death and dying, mama, apple pie, and the whole thing. It covers a lot of territory, country music does.
It's America's classical music ... this becomes our tradition ... the bottom line of any country in the world is what did we contribute to the world? ... we contributed Louis Armstrong
With the a cappella groups, every voice is like one string on a guitar, one note on the piano, or one cymbal, and you don't have the luxury of falling back on anything.
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