James Levine Recommend Quotations

I really recommend the following. Before you're going to hear a piece, any piece, for the first time, don't do anything. Just go an hour early and read the program notes. Then you have some idea about how long it is, the instrumentation, what the idea of it is, the pure general shell. Then, when the piece is played, don't fight with it. Listen to it. And if you find anything that fascinates you, then here's the important thing: Go hear it again, soon.

I'd rather they come an hour before and read the program notes, so that they have some slight introduction to what they're going to hear. Then I recommend the most important thing of all. Listen, don't fight.