Customer Reviews

The World of Music According to Starker

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Written without the technical competence his fingers are usually spirited with, this is still an intriguing book. Janos Starker barely disguises that he composed this book while bathing. The narrative of his life is interrupted several times with present tense statements concerning his hygiene at the time of writing. "I am flecked with pheasant grease as I compose these words" he writes. "But back to my time in Budapest, or I shall return to it soon. Presently I am bathing, removing these irascible grease spots. I remove the grease with a coarse loofah, then I write a sentence. This is the slow fugue of Janos Starker's life. A sinuous musk snakes from my armpits. The odor, she returns my thoughts to the pungency of Lady Hungary." A strange journey through the life of the notable cellist, his mind, and what is on his mind as he bathes.

In terms of quality of writing, the famous cellist might have stuck to his principal art rather than venturing into autobiography. But then we would be without this odd little gem of self-reflection. That would be a pity.

Starker makes no bones about the fact that he writes from the twilight of his life. That is part of this book's occasionally coarse charm. Like many professional musicians, Starker comes across as something of a crotchety fellow, not only determined to maintain the high artistic standard he early established for himself, but dismissive of those who prove less demanding of themselves.

It could hardly been foreseen that this Hungarian-born Jewish child prodigy, denied a passport from the land of his birth, would play in the great halls of Europe and America-and a number of less great ones far from those cultural centers-and then settle in Bloomington, Indiana with all the fierce loyalty to his midwestern university town that is typical of the emigr?-by-choice. There he became the revered teacher of a cellist friend of my wife's and so found his way onto my reading list.

The World of Music According to Starker reveals the stitchery side of the unglamorous practice room and backstage world that appears to concert-goers as a well-ordered tapestry. Starker's loyalty to his friends-for-life is endearing, as is his enduring respect for the consistently great artists like the idiosyncratic Fritz Reiner. Indeed, consistency is one of Starker's most-admired virtues and in eyes the truest measure of artistry.

Starker occasionally wishes aloud that his contribution might have enriched the lives of others. Indeed.

This autobiography proved immensely enjoyable for its revelations about the world of music, all the more so coming from a musician originating from a country which knew so much tragedy in the 20th century. Janos Starker's wit and wisdom shines throughout the book and he really knows how to write - he is much more than a mere raconteur intent on self-advertisement. I would definitely recommend this to any music-lover or indeed to anyone with a curious turn of mind - such a person would start off with something in common with maestro Starker.

A wonderful book for anyone to read, especially anyone with visions of entering the madness of the concertizing world. It is hard to imagine his abilities as far as playing difficult repertoire on short notice, even recording it.
He doesn't seem to be a warm fuzzy kind of guy, but is organaized in a way that anyone must respect.
Herb