Ozzy Osbourne - Never Know Why

These times have almost passed, the reigning patriarchs with a conductor’s baton and orchestra educators using draconian methods are now rare. And this is good. Today it is almost impossible to imagine that musicians allowed to scoff at themselves as Toscanini did over their predecessors; democratic rules of the game were also established in the world of orchestras. But we must be careful that the situation does not turn into its opposite, so that the actual musical issues do not become dependent on the decisions of the majority. It would be absurd if, at a rehearsal through a democratic vote, the orchestra decided how to play this or that passage. The last word should remain with the conductor, for he is ultimately responsible for the creative result. But he should not talk to the orchestra like a soldier.