“If you go to Japan for instance, you should know that they have a diff...” — Kurt Masur Quote

“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.”

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

“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.”

“The man on the street, he knows who Beethoven is, he knows who Mozart is.”

“I grew up loving symphonies. Beethoven is beautiful.”

“Playing the Beethoven symphonies, for example, is a consummate experience for a musician because Beethoven speaks so directly to who we are as people.”