Every time I have the good fortune of being in the studio audience at Radio City I am impressed with the fact that it takes much less energy to listen to music than to direct or play it. So, while the Maestro and the orchestra rest for a mo­ment, I will tell you of a simple comparison be­tween Music and Research that we have used many times.

     This afternoon we are listening to the compositions of Mozart. He was one of those rare and talented individuals who had the natural gifts of both composition and execution. He was a child prodigy. This type of individual is rare but each generation may produce one or more - they occur not only in the musical field but also in art, medicine and science, and their contributions are of great importance. Most of our work, however, must be done by people with just ordinary abilities in the beginning who reach positions of skill or responsibility by practice, study and plain persis­tence.

     Now, I don't know the individual histories of the men in this orchestra but I suspect the majority of them are here as the result of arduous practice and much hard work and, in many cases, sacrifices of many kinds. This Symphony Orchestra is a body of men, who, in order to per­form superbly as a group, must first be able to perform equally well as in­dividuals. Just organizing a group of poor musicians doesn't make a good orchestra.