Absolutely On Music by Haruki Murakami

Music for Murakami is little less than a religion, a major part of his personal life and a vital ingredient in the recipe for his now world-famous prose. There’s a rhythm to his writing that echoes the smooth jazz he’s known to love and seldom a scene goes by in a Murakami novel without a mention of the song playing in the background.

In Absolutely on Music, Murakami sits down with acclaimed conductor Seiji Ozawa for a series of conversations. Listening to classical records as they talk, their discussion revolves mostly around Ozawa’s own career, spinning off from that central point into anecdotes about the musicians he has worked with and deeper talk of what music has meant to both he and Murakami throughout their lives.

Its cool, conversational style is one of the trademarks of Murakami’s writing – his novels all have the easy calm of a bar room dialogue – and Absolutely On Music has the particular feel of sitting at a table with two friends while they bat around their ideas. How much you get out of it will depend a little on your interest in the subject itself, but even if they lose you as they go deeper into its mechanics, it’s easy to sink back and enjoy the flow of their erudite chatter.