Top Kurt Masur Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

Kurt Masur Biography

Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Gewandhaus, and also served as music director of the New York Philharmonic.

Read about Kurt Masur in Wikipedia

Random Authors

Kurt Masur Quotes

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.

Help, Helping, Musician, Musicians, Shy, Talented

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

Conductor, Conductors, Enough, Success, Young

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

Like, People, Star, Stars, Tried

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.

Add, Allowed, Message, Pieces, Teacher, Thing

I was different from most young conductors today.

Conductors, Different, Today, Young

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?

Beginning, Expect, New Beginnings, New York, People, Philharmonic

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.

Confident, Good, People, Player, Speaks Out, Tell

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.

Beautiful, Ideas, Nothing, Play, Played

What I never overcame is a kind of shyness.

Kind, Overcame, Shy, Shyness

An orchestra full of stars can be a disaster.

Disaster, Orchestra, Stars

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.

Composer, Everything, Men, Taste, Trying

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.

Beethoven, Library, Mistake, Musical, Understandable, Wrong

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

Concerts, Opportunity, War, World

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

Change, Character, Different, Mind, Orchestra

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

Changed, Character, Habit, Mind, Natural

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.

Brahms, Japan, Light, Play, Way, Wonderful