Happy Birthday Kurt Masur!

Ich habe den Geist der Komischen Oper nie mehr verloren.

As I came to New York, it was for me a new beginning. To discover what people are living here. What do they need, what do they expect, what would they like to be the image and the performance of the New York Philharmonic?

Die größten Schäden, die entstanden sind, sind die Schäden in den Herzen und Köpfen der Menschen.

What I never overcame is a kind of shyness.

Das war das Kurioseste an dieser Revolution: Dass montagabends Revolution war, und spätestens am Dienstagmorgen ging jeder wieder ordentlich zur Arbeit.

Even my family laughed at me because they thought this young guy who's always stuttering in front of other people should be in front of 100 musicians and talk to them and leading them.

Wer gute Musik hört, neben dem Rock und Pop, wer gute Bücher liest, neben Comics und Asterix, der läuft nicht Gefahr, menschliche Werte zu verlieren.

Since the composer has said everything, if you discover everything, it will be enough and you will be a happy man. Don't try to say it's your taste, and because of that you are changing this or that. And I must say this respect is still there.

Der Stellenwert der Kunst ist in Europa durch die Einschätzung vieler Politiker in Gefahr.

In South America, I heard the 8th Symphony of Beethoven. And the young conductor thought, Beethoven must be heroic. But this is piece which shouldn't be heroic. And this was such a misunderstanding, such a deep misunderstanding.

Ich könnte ohne Musik nicht leben.

At the age of 16, something happened with my finger and the doctor told me, you never can be a organist or pianist, so think about what you do with music.

Die Meisterwerke der Musik geben dem Hoffnungslosen Hoffnung, dem Traurigen Mut, dem Einsamen das Gefühl, daß er doch in einer Gemeinschaft lebt.

An orchestra full of stars can be a disaster.

Walter Felsenstein war so musikalisch, dass er das Wesen der Musik besser erfasste als mancher Musiker.

And if you are strong enough, then you can grow as a conductor more and more.

Mit der Musik konnte ich mich selbst bewahren.

I always imagined that to bring an orchestra to play together is not enough for a conductor.

Ich will Musik für alle Menschen machen.

You have to change your mind with every orchestra because every orchestra has a different character.

Es wird immer Menschen geben, die gute Musik hören wollen, das ist bewiesen.

Sometimes if you have very confident people, you have to tell them please, be polite, there are other players are good enough as you and you should never speak out of an orchestra.

Wer etwas bewirken will, muss große Worte finden.

Young conductors who are confident enough, they very often have success.

Für mich besteht Interpretation darin, dass ich versuche, in die Rolle des Komponisten zu schlüpfen, versuche, den kreativen Wurzeln eines Werkes nachzuspüren.

I worked on scores. I went to the musical library in Berlin which is very famous. I discovered that we had scores of Beethoven, printed scores of Beethoven, that are full of mistakes. Not the wrong or false notes, but the wrong dynamic, understandable things.

Wenn ein Orchester von einem Dirigenten sagt, das ist ein netter Kerl, wird nichts Spannendes passieren. Ich glaube, ein Dirigent muss wie ein Vater sein, liebevoll, zugewandt, aber streng.

The message of music was also the first thing what I learned from my first teacher. She was an organist too and she was very devoted to what she played, so she had a respect for every piece and she felt that she is not allowed to add something of her own.

Ich würde keinen Sinn in meinem Leben sehen, wenn ich nicht überzeugt wäre, dass Musik etwas bewirkt.

And at the same time, I had my very first concert at the age of 16. I hadn't heard a symphony orchestra before, and I was so deeply impressed I said I have to be a conductor.

Wir haben mit den komplizierten Strukturen der Oper und der sinfonischen Musik etwas erreicht, das kaum noch verfeinert werden kann.

And to understand this, I think this is a most important point where I would like always to be understood what we do with the New York Philharmonic. That the meaning of the music is number one.

And I always tried to be not a star. To be someone who people like to talk to.

Even I had no opportunity to conduct very many concerts after World War II.

I was different from most young conductors today.

I wouldn't say I've changed my mind. I changed some of my natural habits, some of my natural character.

I believe so, but at first he must know. He must know in which spirit Beethoven has composed this piece. He must try to study that. And he must find out in which station of life of Beethoven he did.

I can go in front of an orchestra. I can go in front of an audience. But if you see me walking through an audience in the reception or through a lot of people, I'm still shy.

If you go to Japan for instance, you should know that they have a different way of playing Beethoven or Brahms. But if you play with them Mozart, Debussy, Mendelssohn, they have a wonderful light feeling for that.

Very often, if I know the orchestra doesn't know a piece or it's a new piece, I have main ideas about it. But then we start to play and I never talk about places where they played so beautiful and so clear in the beginning that there is nothing to say.

You know as I started as a shy young conductor, I always wanted to cooperate. To build up the musicians. To help them to be better than without a conductor. And sometimes young talented musicians have to be encouraged.