Itzhak Perlman Quotes

For every child prodigy that you know about, at least 50 potential ones have burned out before you even heard about them.

I'm just a one-instrument player. I have been known to play a blender, but I basically play - just play the violin.

There is nothing like a fine Italian sound.

Nothing is better for my playing than teaching because when you teach, you have to think and you have to listen what other people do. And then all of a sudden, you play yourself and then you say, my goodness, I don't need a teacher. I'm my own teacher. Then I can react to what I'm doing immediately. It really improves.

When you play a concerto with a small orchestra, you don't feel it is as important as Carnegie Hall. You try to work out all the little problems. Once that's all done, trust comes in.

Beethoven concertos ... Tchaicovsky concertos ... with a lot of these wonderful masterpieces there's always something wonderful to find ... there's always something new to find ...

This young wine may have a lot of tannins now, but in five or 10 years it is going to be spectacular, despite the fact that right now it tastes like crude oil. You know this is how it is supposed to taste at this stage of development.

I don't walk on stage unless I'm playing with a orchestra. But when I play a recital, I'm sort of on a scooter, and I just scoot very quickly on stage, and they're saying, wow, look at this. He's so fast.

Same thing with harmonies. If you hear something that harmonically is interesting, express it. So that's what I'm saying about talking the music rather than just playing through.

Don't play the way it goes. Play the way it is. And the way it is every time you play it, it's slightly different. Look for something. So that's the challenge not to be bored.

I don't feel that the conductor has real power. The orchestra has the power, and every member of it knows instantaneously if you're just beating time.

That makes classical music work, the ability to improvise.

I can actually see the sound in my head. I can actually see it ... But each sound is different so this one has that sparkle, there is a sparkle to the sound.

I couldn't only do one thing
I don't want the personal hell of oneness.

The Violin of my dreams. If you wanna play a pianissimo that is almost inaudible and yet it carries through a hall that seats 3,000 people, there's your Strad.

A Century of Wisdom is universal and will enrich readers for generations to come.

I always consider myself lucky that I can actually cry listening to some music.

Perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.

There are people who are uncanny, who are finished products at a young age. I wasn't, thank God.

Heard Ori Kam and was deeply impressed with his achievements as a violist. His technical and interpretive skills are truly unique. I see a great future for him.

I went to an airport and asked for a wheelchair. There were three of us in wheelchairs and only two porters, so the guy took two of us at the same time. I cannot tell you how humiliating that is.

For people who are really talented, what you don't say becomes extremely important. You have to judge what to say and what to leave alone so you can let the talent develop.

A lot of people like to think that polio was a inspiration in what I do. I think that music has to do with what kind of passion do you have.

If you play something well, I don't care what it is. I mean, I don't play an electric [violin] - I tried. It's actually interesting.

In Paris they have special wheelchairs that go through every doorway. They don't change the doorways, they change the wheelchairs. To hell with the people! If someone weighs a couple more pounds, that's it!

Every musical phrase has a purpose. It's like talking. If you talk with a particular purpose, people listen to you, but if you just recite, it's not as meaningful.

I love to work with young kids.

I feel that you always pay when you are a child.

This has been my vocation to make music of what remains.

I look at raising funds for The Perlman Music Program as a challenge and as a way to provide opportunities for people who care about the future of classical music.

That's the goal, to survive your gift.

Sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.

In difficult times, people just like to hear music. They like to be moved by what they hear. And music speaks different languages.

Trust your ability!

You get more nervous in front of a lot of people. That's why, when you play a concerto, you play with a small orchestra, in some place where you don't feel that it is as important as Carnegie Hall.

I do three things. I do teaching, I do conducting and I do playing. And each one of those sort of helps the other.

The thing is that what you try to do when you play is you try to play not below a certain level. In other words, it can be a special day where it would be phenomenal, but if it's not below a certain level, that's the goal. You know, that's what you want to do. That's why you practice and so on.

Another thing that I don't like to do is show too much how it goes. I do it once in a blue moon. Sometimes there are lessons when I don't pick up a violin at all.

The most important thing to do is really listen.

Not many people like it when they get criticism. Of course, if you have someone who does tell you and you do have a rapport, that's great. But don't rely on it. You have to rely on yourself.

Preparing for a future in music is an expensive proposition.

Any gifted child can potentially get in real trouble because of the way they are handled.

This machine, the wheelchair, I can go all over the place, but you need a place without stairs to get in.

One must always practice slowly. If you learn something slowly, you forget it slowly.