Absolutely on Music, Murakami

A deeply personal, intimate conversation about music and writing between the internationally acclaimed, bestselling author and the former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

In Absolutely on Music, internationally acclaimed, best-selling author Haruki Murakami sits down with his friend Seiji Ozawa, the revered former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, for a series of conversations on their shared passion: music. Over the course of 2 years, Murakami and Ozawa discuss everything from Brahms to Beethoven, Leonard Bernstein to Glenn Gould, Bartók to Mahler and pop-up orchestras to opera. They listen to and dissect recordings of some of their favorite performances, and Murakami questions Ozawa about his career conducting orchestras around the world. Culminating in Murakami’s 10-day visit to the banks of Lake Geneva to observe Ozawa’s retreat for young musicians, the book is interspersed with ruminations on record collecting, jazz clubs, orchestra halls, film scores and much more. A deep reflection on the essential nature of both music and writing, Absolutely on Music is an unprecedented glimpse into the minds of 2 maestros.

Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. He is best known for his fiction works — Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka on the Shore — but has also made significant contributions in non-fiction, including Underground, a work chronicling stories of the survivors of the Hanshin earthquake and Tokyo subway sarin gas attack in 1995. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages, and he is the distinguished recipient of many international literary honors including the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award and Jerusalem Prize.

Seiji Ozawa served as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 29 years, and was music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Ravinia Festival and Vienna State Opera. With Kazuyoshi Akiyama, he formed the Saito Kinen Orchestra and is the director of the Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival. Ozawa has been deeply involved in musical education through his work with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Ozawa International Chamber Music Academy Okushiga, Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland and as founder of the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Opera Project, organizations which provide opportunities to outstanding students in Asia and Europe. Among his many honors, Ozawa has been awarded France’s Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, the Japanese Order of Culture, a Kennedy Center Honor and a Grammy® for Best Opera Recording.

Author: Haruki Murakami
Format: Paperback, 320 pages
Publisher: Vintage (2017)
ISBN: 9780804173728