New York Times
“One of the leading musicians of our time.”
The Daily Telegraph
“A highly stimulating book.”
The Los Angeles Times
Barenboim provides valuable new material very much in keeping with the book's original aims and tenor. In this new edition, one finds new chapters on his work as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin, his experiences conducting Wagner at Bayreuth, his thoughts on the perplexities facing Israel, his efforts to bring young Israeli and Arab artists together to make music and a chapter called "Musical Afterthoughts," which serves as the book's new conclusion. — Merle Rubin
Publishers Weekly
Pianist and conductor Barenboim, currently director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, has had a remarkable career, with its share of drama and tragedy, including the shattering death of his brilliantly gifted first wife, cellist Jacqueline Du Pre, and the debacle of his ignominious departure from Paris's Bastille Opera. But since Barenboim stresses at the outset that he has no intention of referring to private or personal matters, readers looking for colorful details of his life will be disappointed. Instead, his book is a staid account of his career, with dutiful observations on colleagues and contemporaries (as a conductor he seems, oddly, to have been most influenced by the unlikely duo of Pierre Boulez and Sir John Barbirolli). He has interesting things to say on the relationship between music, language and national temperament, and on orchestral technique--though there is surprisingly little on the pianism with which he made his name. Overall, the book is a disappointment--unfocused, meandering, dully written. Barenboim should have let himself go, as he does in performance. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Oct.)
Library Journal
Barenboim, the current director of the Chicago Symphony, has for several decades been a leading luminary in the classical music world, having achieved superstar status as both a conductor and pianist. In these memoirs, he traces his career from his wunderkind years in Argentina through his marriage to late cellist Jacqueline du Pre to his recent tenures with the Paris Opera and the Berlin and Israel philharmonics. This is not a ghost-written project; the words are all Barenboim's--written during a hiatus in his busy schedule--and he resolutely refuses to indulge the reader with gossip. His seriousness of purpose as a conductor is mirrored in this text; there are scores of instructive and thought-provoking ideas about the art of conducting, performing, and appreciating music. One caveat: The organization of the book is poor; too often, the text rambles from the topic suggested by the chapter titles, resulting in a certain redundancy and lack of focus. One wishes Barenboim the writer had applied the same uncompromising discipline that he does so compellingly as a conductor. For large music collections.-- Larry Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, Pa.
