Quotes by conductor Eugene Ormandy
Who is sitting in that empty chair?
I guess you thought i was conducting, but i wasn't.
Why do you always insist on playing while I'm trying to conduct?
It is not as difficult as i thought it was, but it is harder than it is.
At every concert I've sensed a certain insecurity about the tempo. It's clearly marked 80... uh, 69.
If you don't have it in your part, leave it out, because there is enough missing already.
We can't hear the balance yet because the soloist is still on the airplane.
With us tonight it William Warfield, who is with us tonight, He is a wonderful man, and so is his wife.
Bizet was a very young man when he composed this symphony, so play it soft.
I never say what I mean, but I always manage to say something similar.
Serkin was so sick he almost died for three days.
Let me explain what I do here. I don't want to confuse you any more than absolutely necessary.
I don't mean to make you nervous, but unfortunately I have to.
Thank you for your cooperation and vice versa.
Relax, don't be nervous. My God, it's the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Congratulations to each and every one of you for the concert last night in New York and vice versa.
I'm conducting very slowly because I don't know the tempo.
I am thinking it right but beating it wrong.
I can conduct better than I count.
Don't ever follow me, because I am difficult.
The notes are right, but if I listened they would be wrong.
It is not together, but the ensemble is perfect.
Start three bars before something.
Percussion, a little louder. ("We don't have anything.") That's right, play it louder.
I need one more bass less.
Brass, stay down all summer.
Accelerando means in tempo. Don't rush.
I don't want to repeat this a hundred times. When you see crescendo, it means p [piano].
Please follow me because I have to follow him and he isn't here.
That's the way Stravinsky was--Bup, bup, bup. The poor guy's dead now. Play it legato.
[On Oistrakh's death:] I told him he'd have a heart attack a year ago, but unfortunately he lived a year longer.
This is a very democratic organization, so let's take a vote. All those who disagree with me raise their hands.
It's all very well to have principles, but when it comes to money you have to be flexible.