Orchestra

"I have one idea about this whole interpretation problem as it relates to orchestral music — too many of our conductors start with old music. What they should do is interpret the music of our time and then go backwards. They would be much better off because if you interpret a contemporary work, where the composer is still alive and have contact with the compositional mind, you will also play older music as looked at from the perspective of the composer, instead of an interpretive kind of idea. I hate the performer that says, “Did you ever hear my Beethoven?” I don’t want to hear his Beethoven! I want to hear Beethoven."

"Numerous important conductors and composers were (and are) players of instruments other than the piano or organ over the course of their careers (Hans Richter, Edric Cundell, Daniel Jones, Edward Downes, Cedric Thorpe Davie and Norman Del Mar were hornists, Malcolm Arnold and Elgar Howarth trumpeters, Gustav Holst and George Alexander Macfarren trombonists, Simon Rattle a percussionist, Christian Darnton a bassoonist, Arthur Nikisch, Basil Cameron, Eugène Goossens and George Lloyd violinists, John Barbirolli, Charles Lucas, Havergal Brian and Arturo Toscanini cellists, and Benjamin Britten and Frank Bridge were violists). The intimate knowledge of the orchestra one gleans as a player is very valuable for conducting a symphony orchestra or writing orchestral compositions."