Michael Tilson Thomas Quotes

The value of music is to be able to play one note at the right time in the right way.

One learns how to change gears within a concert repertoire.

A good interpreter can take a piece of bad music and make it sound pretty decent, while a bad interpreter can take good music and make it sound cheap. I can tell that some people have a bad taste, and unlike on the piano, they smear around a lot, that is bad taste.

I admire Tom Ades: he's a brilliant conductor, and he gets just the right hard, brilliant sound from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for Russian music.

I've never understood people who play up the artifice of music.

My experience with the Detroit Symphony has been musically very satisfying. They have a wonderful sound, which for me is one of the most important qualities in an orchestra.

I play in tune like a cello player and use legitimate vibrato. There are no tricks; it's just all in the hands!

The right notes mean more than 1,000 mph arpeggios.

It is a real piece of art if you can make a waltz sound like it is the easiest piece of music to play, because it's really not.

I find little in the works of Beethoven, Berlioz, Wagner and others when they are led by a conductor who functions like a windmill.

It's been a thrilling journey - I have had to really learn that an orchestra is an entity - it's a creature. I have been calling it the dragon and the conductor is the dragon tamer. And you just have to... ride and don't let go and you will be fine.

I like a lot of different kinds of music. I like strong projects, big music.

I can take any series of numbers and turn it into music, from Bach to bebop, Herbie Hancock to hip-hop.

When you play a concerto with a small orchestra, you don't feel it is as important as Carnegie Hall. You try to work out all the little problems. Once that's all done, trust comes in.

Mozart is always a bit of a challenge - you know, even though it is often given to very young singers, it is actually the most complicated to sing in many instances.

I read and write classical piano and percussion, also guitar.

To me, the biggest notes and the longest notes are the easiest notes.

There is a world of difference between a Mahler eighth note and a normal eighth note.

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.

There's nothing more frustrating than seeing a conductor say, 'Play softer,' as they're waving their hands in huge gestures.

The soprano turned out to sound to me like the right hand on the piano.

It does just boil down to music.

Can't you read? The score demands 'con amore', and what are you doing? You are playing it like married men!

It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.

All you have to do is play one note. But it needs to be the right note.