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danielmbensen's review against another edition
3.0
--a collection of transcribed conversations between the author and concert conductor Seiji Ozawa. Both talk about their love of music and their approach to creative work, as well as the experience of living abroad.
I'm not a musician, and I didn't get much even when I read along to the music (on Spotify). I did connect with some of the more abstract discussion of the "hungry heart" of the artist reaching toward mastery and the "stripping away layers" during performance. It's good to consider what makes art good.
This book was a suggestion from Paul Venet, and I read it on the beach. It's now in the hands of an opera-conductor student of mine, who has decided to translate it word for word.
I'm not a musician, and I didn't get much even when I read along to the music (on Spotify). I did connect with some of the more abstract discussion of the "hungry heart" of the artist reaching toward mastery and the "stripping away layers" during performance. It's good to consider what makes art good.
This book was a suggestion from Paul Venet, and I read it on the beach. It's now in the hands of an opera-conductor student of mine, who has decided to translate it word for word.
cjeanne99's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Delightful. Murakami is a student of music - he intimately knows a wide variety of pieces; symphonies, piano concertos, jazz. He and Ozawa discuss music history and Ozawa’s career - dissecting many performances. Particularly enjoyed their discussion of the influence of Mahler - and the conductor’s role in rehearsing an orchestra to take on Mahler - and Ozawa’s eastern ways of interpreting western music.
I laughed out loud when reading their conversation about Ozawa’s time as director of the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. He would travel to the blues clubs on his nights off to soak up some truly American music. Ozawa says “Do they still play the blues in Chicago?” Well - even though the Cubs won the World Series in 2016 - yes - we do still play the blues!
Even though the writing style is conversational - I found the book to be entertaining and enlightening. Ozawa’s description of how he prepares for a performance - the depths he goes to study a score and determine various interpretations. And his discussion of the different styles of different orchestras was fascinating. Well done.
I laughed out loud when reading their conversation about Ozawa’s time as director of the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. He would travel to the blues clubs on his nights off to soak up some truly American music. Ozawa says “Do they still play the blues in Chicago?” Well - even though the Cubs won the World Series in 2016 - yes - we do still play the blues!
Even though the writing style is conversational - I found the book to be entertaining and enlightening. Ozawa’s description of how he prepares for a performance - the depths he goes to study a score and determine various interpretations. And his discussion of the different styles of different orchestras was fascinating. Well done.
gjkroon's review against another edition
4.0
Nice book in which Murakami speaks with Ozawa on several occasions. For me as conductor nice to get into the head of Ozawa.
mattnauwelaers's review against another edition
3.0
Being an absolute novice on classical music this book introduced me to a lot of beautiful pieces and the inner workings of the genre. However, it made me miss out on a lot of the details as well
mjanssen's review against another edition
3.0
My rule is that I'll read anything Murakami writes (translated into English, that is). So of course I picked this one up. What I read about it before buying it gave me hope that there might be more discussion of jazz, and I was disappointed in that regard, since it focuses almost entirely on classical music. I don't listen to much classical and have almost no familiarity with Ozawa, other than that I used to work at a public radio station that aired classical where I heard his name on the air pretty often. This book has much more Ozawa in it than it does Murakami, to the point that it almost seems incidental that Murakami wrote it — possibly almost any other writer could have approached this task just as ably. But, Murakami certainly displays a highly sensitive ear for the music he discusses with Ozawa and gives an occasional glimpse of his own thoughts on writing and creation, as well as some typically inventive turns of phrase. And it has also inspired me to try listening to more classical music. So this was ultimately worth reading, but not really for the reasons a typical Murakami work of fiction would usually provide.
bpello2020's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced