This book opened new worlds of music enjoyment for me. I thought I was a pretty serious listener to classical music, but hearing how these two guys talk about music made me realize I'm in elevator music mode most of the time.

Ozawa, of course, I expected to be much deeper than I could hope to understand. But Murakami is a non-musician and so intelligent and studious a listener that he contributes as much to the conversation (and probably more to my level of understanding) than the conductor does. And conversations is the right title: it's not an interview. Each of the two says things that make the other think about music in a new way.

Each chapter is a study in depth of a different topic, usually with references to specific performances and recordings. A particular piano concerto, Mahler, a music training/festival for young string players. The big chapters are separated by smaller, lighter conversations. Very readable throughout, though I needed to pause for a day or so between chapters to let what I had read sink in. ( )

This book took me quite a while to complete. I decided to find some of the specific music pieces they discussed on YouTube, and listened to them simultaneously. I really came to appreciate the conversations and music on a deeper level. Enjoyed my experience with this book. ( )

Difficile apprezzarne il contenuto perché troppo tecnico. ( )

Diálogos sobre música clásica con Seiji Ozawa

nonfiction - interviews with famous conductor, translated from Japanese.

I got through the intro chapter ok but wasn't doing so well with the transcripted conversations--harder to follow what they're talking about if you literally can't hear the music that they're talking about. But perhaps it would have grown on me if I'd read past page 15. ( )