"If you wish to learn how to live in a democratic society, then you would do well to play in an orchestra," Barenboim tells us. By doing so, "you know when to lead and when to follow. You leave space for others and at the same time you have no inhibitions about claiming a place for yourself." And yet--in one of the paradoxes of the book's title--music, he tells us, is also the best means of escape from the problems of human existence.
L.A. Times,
"Music Is Overture for Political, Social Dialogues" on Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said's "Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society"