Now in paperback: "Absolutely on Music, Conversations with Seiji Ozawa"

[barryguerrero]

"   .   .   ,Conversations with Seiji Ozawa" can now be bought in paperback for $12 at Amazon. In general, I would say that this is a good - not great book. However, the conversations between Ozawa and author Huruki Murakami on Gustav Mahler are extremely enlightening! I strongly recommend the book to anyone looking for further insight into Mahler and his compositional processes.  It really is no accident that Ozawa's Boston and Tokyo Mahler is, on the whole, very good. The only other chapter I found to be informative, for me, was the one on conducting opera. That was both enlightening and entertaining.

https://www.amazon.com/Absolutely-Music-Conversations-Vintage-International/dp/0804173729/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518546243&sr=1-1&keywords=absolutely+on+music+murakami

[sbugala]

I liked the chapter comparing certain versions of piano concertos. There's a comment that Ozawa makes saying that Bernstein and Gould recorded the Brahms First Piano Concerto right after the infamous concert where Bernstein sort-of disavowed the performance. However, it obviously hasn't been released. Ozawa was assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, so I believe him. In this centenary year of LB, I wonder if it COULD see the light of day. Gould's estate would have to approve, which might not be out-of-the-question. After all, the live radio version DID get released.

I agree with you, Barry. It's a good book. Not great. I wish there had been more Ozawa and a little less Murakami. However, it's entertaining. You get the impression that if Ozawa wanted to, he could've really let loose with certain stories.

[barryguerrero]

I'm not a big fan of the standard Austro/German piano concertos or solo piano literature (I do like Beethoven's 4th concerto), so that passage of the book didn't interest me much.  Frankly, I thought too much time was spent on that part of their listening together. That's just me. I would have liked it if they had listened and talked about Messiaen and/or Takemitsu.

[sbugala]

The fascinating thing is, they could've made the book bigger. Ozawa is one of those conductors I'll confess I suffered from certain biases towards. I didn't let my ears do the judging. One of my favorite own maxims is, "Sometimes, I like being wrong." Once, I actually listened to his work, I found it he's good.

As for the listening sessions: I liked it, if only because it seems musicians are wired sooooo differently from fans like us. Ozawa seemed almost perplexed...maybe even embarrassed that someone would have so many of his recordings. Funny stuff.

[Prospero]

Ozawa is not my favorite. But I have heard him conduct two moving performances of Brittens War Requiem in Boston and New York and a well conducted Queen of Spades at the Met. The music business can be  brutal as Toscanini often observed. So intelligence, openness, and a sense of the unpredictable are valuable traits in our ever more regulated world.

Intelligent talk and listening. Is that not what this whole site is about?

Let sensitivity and intelligence have places of honor.

Best to all,

Tom in Vermont

[Roland Flessner]

I enjoyed this book a lot. I've developed a new respect for Ozawa in recent years. His M9 from Boston and M2 from Saito Kinen are among the best performances I've heard. Just yesterday I downloaded his Russian Easter Festival Overture with the VPO, and it's an absolute knockout.

What struck me in the book is the difference in perspective between a performer and a record collector.

It's not a long book, and I'd recommend it to the curious.

[barryguerrero]

As an all-around conductor who does a very wide range of repertoire, one could do A LOT worse than Ozawa. I used to see him in his earlier years in San Francisco, and always liked his work (I was very young).

I know the recording of "Russian Easter Overture". I like it too, greatly because they dubbed in real church bells at the end. It's a decent "Sheherazade" as well.