I have characterized Nixon as a loner, a cold man with great self-confidence and a one-track mind centered on the advancement of Richard Nixon.
I hate playing the piano! And it's so hard to fight for Beethoven's soul! But that's what I have to do!
[As a conductor] there has to be, between me and the orchestra, an unshakable bond of trust, born out of mutual respect, through which we can spin a musical narrative that we all believe in.
For too long, musicians have been the greatest enemy of music. Their lack of desire to proselytize is a kind of betrayal.
All roads for me lead back to Mozart. In his tragically short life, he breathed new life, fire and meaning into every form of music that existed in his time.
The Southbank Centre Unlimited Festival was a distinct moment in time, an amazing counterpoint to the London 2012 Paralympics. There is no question that a major shift in perspective is taking place, that the world is waking up and greeting - as if for the first time - the extraordinary community of people with disability.
Music is a lens through which to see who we are. Every phrase of every piece of music is trying to tell a story.
Oh god, I wish. I really wish. If I'm time-poor, which I usually am, that's the first thing to go. And I know it shouldn't be, I know I should be really regular, but I like to get it done as quickly as possible.
The economic success of the Reagan Administration was largely dependent upon the pyramiding of massive debt and the siphoning of capital from the rest of the world.
No work of literature is the product of only one or two conscious ideas. A story is mysteriously dense of meaning.
I don't use photographs because photographs don't give me the kind of information I need.