James Levine Quotes (50 Quotes)

I can imagine wanting to work with this ensemble and this company always.

As major orchestras around the world are gripped in various kinds of crises and upheaval, we need to be sure that we are bringing up this new generation.

But the important thing is to lie down and fall asleep. That little nap means you wake up fresh again and can continue.

I really recommend the following. Before you're going to hear a piece, any piece, for the first time, don't do anything. Just go an hour early and read the program notes. Then you have some idea about how long it is, the instrumentation, what the idea of it is, the pure general shell. Then, when the piece is played, don't fight with it. Listen to it. And if you find anything that fascinates you, then here's the important thing Go hear it again, soon.

Where my tastes in music are concerned, I'm a real maximalist.

Great cataclysmic things can go by and neither the orchestra nor the conductor are under the delusion that whether they make this or that gesture is going to be the deciding factor in how it comes out.

If you factor in not just who's doing what at home, but how much more time working fathers are spending on work outside the home, on average they spend two hours more per day outside the home.

And when Levine explains his approach, it is not just a theory. He has been called one of the world's great orchestra builders during his time at the Met. So much has to do with what they do instinctively, what they do perfectly without having to rehearse it, how they interact with colleagues, ... whether what they give keeps getting bigger and bigger in the orchestra or whether they shrink somehow.

I think this orchestra's strengths involve drama and voice.

And so, little by little, I gradually divested myself of pretty nearly all of the guest conducting I used to do, because I was at the same time working in the places like the Met, where I could work in this sort of depth.

I very rarely have clients who want posed group shots before the wedding. They'd rather I capture the quiet moments -- a stolen kiss between the bride and groom before they enter their reception as a married couple.

Most people treat the office manual the way they treat a software manual. They never look at it.

More and more couples are having this negotiation or discussion, but I'm still amazed at the number who aren't and where the cultural norm sort of kicks in and they just assume that mom's got to be the one who stays home, not dad.

It has to be able to play at the maximum expression and communication in every style, and the only way you can do that is - like Verdi said - working with a file, every day, little by little, until the orchestra's collective qualities emerge.

What's interesting is that both men and women are struggling with this issue in remarkably similar percentages, but the big difference is that women tend to talk about this when men keep it silent.

When they are performing in front of the public, they ought to have a sensation that's relatively easy, if the technical and the interpretive work was done before.

My 40th year will be '10-11 and we will have another two years to go to complete the new Ring, and I committed to Peter that I would stay that long in any case.

The more I work on his pieces, I find that their fundamental life energy is irresistible, and it increases. It's such marvelous music, with such personality, thought and care and detail. We have a number of very marvelous composers, but to see Elliott at this age so enthusiastic, wanting to do it and being able to do it, is amazing.

They've really got to recognize that all of us bring some of our family issues to work and our work home.

Second, if you're the boss, just because they don't ask doesn't mean your employees don't have needs.

There is no relationship between the gestures and what an orchestra will do.

Birgit was unique Her voice, her artistry, her sense of humor and her friendship were in a class of their own. I was so fortunate to hear her sing many times over the years, and eventually to work with her on several memorable occasions with Wagner and Strauss.

At my age, you are naturally inclined towards teaching.

So, the total number of hours spent on the stuff you have to do to take care of a family, working and caring for stuff at home, the total number of hours is actually about the same for mothers and fathers.

You try on purpose to get players with different qualities which will rub off on one another.

And, over the last thirty years we have seen men's participation in both housework and childcare has increased and women's have stayed at about the same.

I find it always sad when there's something that means a lot to me in music and there are people who can't get the exposure to it ever to understand it, let alone love it.

People are turning away from the more formal, traditionally posed wedding photos to a more intimate and natural approach,

We're in the midst of an evolution, not a revolution.

I grew up in an era where an orchestra was like a treasure chest.

It's just that, when the orchestra look at me, I want them to see a completely involved person who reflects what we rehearsed, and whose function is to make it possible for them to do it.

Everybody blames the culture without taking responsibility.

I'd rather they come an hour before and read the program notes, so that they have some slight introduction to what they're going to hear. Then I recommend the most important thing of all. Listen, don't fight.

I thought I'd write one book and the world would change overnight.

My hunch is that probably men are doing more both outside the home and inside the home.

Women tend to have recognition and peer group support - recognition from friends and family that this has to be a big issue in their lives. They're more comfortable expressing the need for support and receiving it.

I have a big problem with conductors who gesture a lot.

All you have to do is ask any child, frankly. You don't have to ask a child development researcher if fathers make a difference. All kids will tell you that the presence of a father makes a big difference.

We do not seem to be finding tomorrow's Toscas.

Working mothers do an hour more per day than working fathers do and working mothers do on average an hour more per day with the kids than working fathers do.

What we've seen happen over the last 30 years is that women still do, about on average, an hour more per day of housework than men do.

A lot of people get impatient with the pace of change.

I was lucky that I met the right mentors and teachers at the right moment.

We found that when people put this issue on the table, it turns out that men acknowledge the issue, and employers and employees can work out solutions just as working mothers do.

Art has never been a popularity contest.

The invisible dilemma is that men face the very real problem that they don't feel comfortable bringing these issues up and they tend not to be acknowledged at work.

Employee fathers need to step up to the plate and put their family needs on the table.

It was just that we had this phenomenal honeymoon relationship that just kept on going.

It wasn't that I ever knew I'd be at the Met for 20 years, or 30 years, or 40 years, or anything like that.

I very much like the way the orchestra interacts with itself - there is a great amount of curiosity which increases people's knowledge.