I first discovered the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami through David Mitchell, whose novel 'number9dream' (a favourite of mine) was heavily influenced by Murakami's 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle'. Murakami novels are usually set in contemporary real-world Japan, into which magical realism starts to intrude. In my reviews here I have often noted Murakami's references to Western classical music (for example in my favourite Murakami novel 'Kafka on the Shore', reviewed here in October 2006). In ‘Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World’ (reviewed here in September 2017) the characters discuss the merits of various different recordings of the ‘Brandenburg Concertos’. In ‘1Q84’ (reviewed here in April 2012) Murakami provides expert analysis of the music of Janáček. And in 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage' (reviewed here in September 2014) a discussion of a recording of Franz Liszt’s 'Le Mal du Pays' by the Russian pianist Lazar Berman led to copies of Berman's CD becoming sold out almost immediately after the publication of Murakami’s novel. I am very grateful to Adriana Marques for giving me a copy of 'Absolutely on Music' - a book of conversations that took place in 2010 and 2011 between Haruki Murakami and the eminent Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa. The book is mostly an edited transcript of the conversations, with a few added notes by Murakami, and I loved it. While clearly knowledgeable about classical music, Murakami does not play an instrument. So my experience of playing in orchestras gave me a level of understanding somewhere between Murakami and Ozawa, making this book perfect for me. Their conversations start with Ozawa recollecting a 1962 performance of the Brahms Piano Concerto no. 1 by Glenn Gould with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic. Before the performance Bernstein turned to the audience and briefly announced that they were about to play the concerto according to Mr Gould's interpretation, with which he did not agree. This anecdote had me hooked from the start. And when Murakami and Ozawa started to listen to and compare six different recordings of Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto, and I realised that all six versions were available on Spotify so I could listen along (with Murakami helpfully providing timestamps for the particular passages they referred to) I knew I was really going to enjoy sitting in on their discussions. As well as concertos they talk about symphonies, operas, string quartets and more. Ozawa is particularly interesting on the job of a conductor and the enjoyment of score-reading. It was also a fascinating coincidence that the book refers to Ozawa conducting the premiere in 1983 of Messiaen's opera 'Saint Francois d'Assise', which was formed one section of the book 'Four Last Songs' by Linda Hutcheon and Michael Hutcheon that I read in July (reviewed here in July 2026). I might have been fortunate to be the perfect audience for 'Absolutely on Music' but I really enjoyed it and it has led me on to listening to and playing many of the pieces they discussed.
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