Kurt Masur

Kurt Masur
Kurt Masurwas 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...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth18 July 1927
CountryGermany
church grew impressed instrument love major organ small
And I love the organ because I grew up in a small city, the organ was the major instrument in church which impressed me very strongly.
stars orchestra disaster
An orchestra full of stars can be a disaster.
teacher school two
If every school would hire two more music teachers, we would need two fewer police officers.
play together orchestra
I always imagined that to bring an orchestra to play together is not enough for a conductor.
enough young conductor
Young conductors who are confident enough, they very often have success.
teacher messages firsts
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.
shy musician helping
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.
mistake musical library
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.
beautiful play ideas
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.
symphony america pieces
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.
stars people
And I always tried to be not a star. To be someone who people like to talk to.
strong enough grows
And if you are strong enough, then you can grow as a conductor more and more.
character mind habit
I wouldn't say I've changed my mind. I changed some of my natural habits, some of my natural character.
shy kind shyness
What I never overcame is a kind of shyness.