Charles Munch Quotations

The conductor must breathe life into the score. It is you and you alone who must expose it to the understanding, reveal the hidden jewel to the sun at the most flattering angles.

Music is an art that expresses the inexpressible. It rises far above what words can mean or the intelligence define. Its domain is the imponderable and impalpable land of the unconscious.

The collective conscience of a hundred musicians is no light burden. Think for a moment of what it would mean to a pianist if by some miracle every key of his instrument should suddenly become a living thing.

A conductor, in giving a faithful reproduction and exact translation of the written notes, can re-create the thought and emotion of an unknown person-the composer-which can sometimes be a transfiguring experience.

I believe that every human being endowed with intelligence, memory, and strength of character bears within him a little of thc supernatural as well. The highest purpose of the conductor is to release this superhuman potential in every one of his musicians.