NTS Guide to: Classical Works in Murakami Novels 23rd January 2024

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IN FOCUS: ROY MONTGOMERY

New Zealand guitarist Roy Montgomery's music was once described by NPR journalist Lars Gotrich as "swimming through phantoms" – it may sound like an overwrought analogy at first, but simply spend half an hour enveloped in Montgomery's tones, and you'll understand. Originally a part of Pin Group in the 1980s, releasing Joy Division-indebted post-punk on the revered Wellington label Flying Nun records, Montgomery eventually unmoored himself from the strictures of verse-chorus-verse songwriting, and other musicians entirely, composing drifting, gauzy guitar instrumentals that channeled his own personal grief and loneliness into a seductively baleful magic.

UNDERGROUND & BLACK W/ ASH LAURYN

Self proclaimed “Underground and Black”, Detroit native Ash Lauryn leads her musical charge with a candid love for the historical roots of dance music, and the power of reclamation in modern day America.

Classical

In a 2011 New York Times article, Murakami estimated that he owns 10,000 records, but was too afraid to count. Music is elemental to the atmosphere of the stories he creates, his works filled with quotations, references and inspiration from the music world; even entire novels are structured around musical pieces, as with 1Q84.

In this Guide, NTS collects just a few of Murakami's classical references found in his novels.

Tracklist

Lazar Berman, Lazar Berman, LisztLiszt
Le Mal Du Pays
Schumann, Robert, Schumann, Robert, Backhaus, Wilhelm, Backhaus, Wilhelm, The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Wand, GünterWand, Günter
Vogel Als Prophet
Beethoven Piano Trio No 7 ArchdukeBeethoven Piano Trio No 7 Archduke
I (Rubinstein, Heifetz, Feuermann)

Schubert, Schubert, Vienna Konzerthaus QuartetVienna Konzerthaus Quartet
String Quartet No. 15 In G Major, Op. 161
Schubert, Schubert, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Janos KovacsJanos Kovacs
Rosamunde
Radu Lupu, Radu Lupu, Franz SchubertFranz Schubert
Piano Sonata In A Minor, D 845
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Karajan, Karajan, Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Mozart, Mozart, Beethoven, Beethoven, Schubert, Schubert, Brahms, Brahms, R. StraussR. Strauss
Der Rosenkavalier
Bruno Walter, Bruno Walter, BeethovenBeethoven
Symphony No. 7 In A Major, Op. 92
Mozart, Mozart, Strauss, Strauss, Cristina Gómez Godoy, Cristina Gómez Godoy, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Daniel BarenboimDaniel Barenboim
Oboe Concerto In D Major, TrV 292
Mendelssohn, Mendelssohn, The Cleveland QuartetThe Cleveland Quartet
Octet In E-flat Major, Op. 20
Leoš Janáček, Leoš Janáček, Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, Sir Charles MackerrasSir Charles Mackerras
Sinfonietta
Mozart, Mozart, Neville Marriner, Neville Marriner, Academy Of St. Martin-in-the-FieldsAcademy Of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Don Giovanni, K. 527
Brahms, Brahms, Curzon, Curzon, London Symphony, London Symphony, SzellSzell
Piano Concerto No. 1 In D Minor, Op. 15
WagnerWagner
Der Fliegende Holländer - Romantische Oper In Drei Akten
Rossini’sRossini’s
La Gazza Ladra