Never look at the trombones. You'll only encourage them.

Never look at the trombones. You'll only encourage them.

I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What could I say? I felt read more

I remember being handed a score composed by Mozart at the age of eleven. What could I say? I felt like de Kooning, who was asked to comment on a certain abstract painting, and answered in the negative. He was then told it was the work of a celebrated monkey. 'That's different. For a monkey, it's terrific.'

When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have.

When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have.

Country music is three chords and the truth.

Country music is three chords and the truth.

I've outdone anyone you can name -- Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Strauss. Irving Berlin, he wrote 1,001 tunes. I wrote 5,500.

I've outdone anyone you can name -- Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Strauss. Irving Berlin, he wrote 1,001 tunes. I wrote 5,500.

Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven.

Music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is heaven.

Music . . .can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.

Music . . .can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable.

Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.

Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.

Opera in English is, in the main, about as sensible as baseball in Italian.

Opera in English is, in the main, about as sensible as baseball in Italian.