“It seems to be much easier to make an audience cry than it is to make them laugh. There are many music-lovers who won’t even admit that humour has a place in what we call classical music. These are people who have no difficulty recognising sadness, tragedy, grief, majesty and grandeur—because these are serious attributes, and they want their beloved music to be ‘serious.’ For them jokes are made of cheap, vulgar and inferior matter that cannot be tolerated on the altar of High Art.”
András Schiff, “Did You Hear the One About…” (Guardian, May 28, 2009)