Thomas Beecham

Great music is that which penetrates the ear with facility and leaves the memory with difficulty. Magical music never leaves the memory.

— Thomas Beecham

The musical equivalent of the towers of St Pancras Station

— Thomas Beecham

Asked if he had ever conducted any Stockhausen, he said, "No, but I once trod in some."

— Thomas Beecham

Too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint.

— Thomas Beecham

A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it.

— Thomas Beecham

The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought.

— Thomas Beecham

What can you do with it? It's like a lot of yaks jumping about."

— Thomas Beecham

I found it as alluring as a wayward woman and determined to tame it.

— Thomas Beecham

The grand tune is the only thing in music that the great public really understands.

— Thomas Beecham

If I cannot sing a work, I cannot conduct it.

— Thomas Beecham

A city life for me!

— Thomas Beecham

No composer has written as much as 100 bars of worthwhile music since 1925.

— Thomas Beecham