Reading- Parallels and Paradoxes

I must start off by expressing how excited I am to be covering this topic in class, and to have been learning about such a unique endeavor in the world of music!  This project is especially appealing to me as a musician and a person who consistently studies the interaction of language and culture. 

I was interested and pleased to see the commentary on Said’s own musical expertise in the introduction.  This has not really been highlighted in any other information about the orchestra project I have seen thus far.  With the two men having such brilliant minds and such basic passions in life, it is not really surprising that they would become friends (unless their musician’s personalities would render them competitive enemies).

Barenboim’s initial lines of his memoriam for Said are striking.  He begins by describing his friend as the “very essence of human nature because he understood its contradictions.”  This one line sums up the heart of this article, and the rest of the tribute was written just as beautifully as the opening paragraph.

The main article itself was interesting in that it was written in the question-answer format of an interview.  Barenboim’s statement about where he feels at home is what first caught my attention here: he feels the most at home in the idea of Jerusalem.  One of the themes I have taken from this class is that Jerusalem is, in the minds of those who love it, admired and adored for what it could be- for its ideal spiritual or aesthetic qualities that make it the center of the world.

The dialogue became more philosophical than I expected later on.  I managed to learn a bit about how Barenboim thinks and what is most important to him when it comes to his work.  In all of these writings, I have found the writers to be very thoughtful and open-minded, yet not withholding opinion.  I believe that everyone remotely connected to the modern conflict, the world of music, or both would benefit from reading these careful, honest reflections.