Daniel Barenboim

Of course there is really vile anti-Semitism in Wagner's writings, but I can't accept the idea that characters like Beckmesser and Alberich are Jewish stereotypes in disguise. Would Beckmesser be a court councillor if he was meant to be a Jewish stereotype? No Jew could occupy such a role. ”

The thing about Wagner is we're always wrong about him, because he always embraces opposites. There are things in his operas which viewed one way are naturalistic, and viewed another way are symbolic, but the problem is you can't represent both views on stage at once. ”

I know so many Irish musicians. They're all over, because there has been so much emigration from Ireland. Like the Jews. ”

The problem with listening to music today is that there's so much of it everywhere. We've got used to hearing music without actually listening to it. ”

The greatness of a musician is measured by the degree of fanaticism he brings to his playing. ”

In my mother's belly, I remember not liking the tempi my father played the Beethoven Sonatas in. ”

Israel is in the grip of a ghetto mentality. We have a powerful army. We have the atomic bomb. But the psychology of what comes out of Israel has the tone of the Warsaw Ghetto. ”

I love conducting. What I'm tired of is music administration. I don't want that. I just want to make music. ”

When you love somebody and they die young and you are young, too, it is very hard. ”

There are wonderful restaurants in London. I love Indian food and I like Arab food, and I go very often to the Arab restaurant Noura. ”