“In conclusion, I would like to say to every young person, who intends to follow this exhausting and responsible career: “A sense of duty towards the composer whose work you are trying to interpret, should be your motto.”

Never think: ‘What can I make of this piece?’, rather try to recognise, what the composer intended to say. We must be aware that the conductor nowadays – from a positive as well as a negative point of view – belongs to one of the most important and most responsible public figures in the musical world, who can make an essential contribution towards real musical understanding of the musical public by performing true to style.

On the other hand, performances, which merely serve to express a star’s vanity, can only deter us further from the one goal, that should be the ideal of all true musicians: To serve that great art of which we have the privilege of being able to practise it.“