We have successfully reached Letter #30, which means that for at least thirty weeks (I’ve occasionally taken a break from duty…), we have been communicating – somewhat one-sidedly, it’s true – but at the same time meaningfully. I’ve had the chance to meet many of you under various circumstances: concerts, lectures, the reading club we host here at the Lilian Voudouri Music Library, over drinks and dinners. Many opportunities. Many of you have disagreed with what I write. This brings me great joy, because if everyone agrees with what you write, we don’t go anywhere; we just go around in circles aimlessly. Disagreement is productive. So, may we continue to disagree and be passionate within reasonable limits.

Reading, of course, is also productive. A book published by MIET came into my hands, and I wanted to tell you about it. It’s Jeremy Eichler’s book, “The Echo of Time: World War II, the Holocaust, and the Music of Memory,” a book honored with the “Ralph Waldo Emerson” award and chosen as “History Book of the Year” by The Sunday Times for 2023. This is a truly great book that sensitively yet realistically addresses an issue like the Holocaust and the music that accompanies it in all its manifestations and narratives. Like all good Anglo-Saxon history books, it reads like a good novel, without lacking scholarly rigor. I will truly never understand why some people believe that a scientifically sound book must necessarily be abstruse and difficult to use. But that’s another matter.

It’s worth looking into who the author is; he teaches at Tufts University, and for years he held the music criticism column for the Boston Globe newspaper. If, of course, someone considers Eichler to be an excellent amateur, then they are mistaken. The author studied music, plays violin and viola, and in his early postgraduate years, he founded a quartet called The Nahanni String Quartet, while also playing as a freelancer in various orchestras. At the same time, he continued his studies and earned a doctorate in History from Columbia University. In short, he possesses all the qualifications to thoroughly examine the role of music in the social reality of the era he studies.

We must always consider the effort of the translator and publisher in these cases. The excellent Katerina Schina translated it, and MIET published this book in its always meticulous manner to enrich Greek bibliography with something significant. Attention! The book is NOT specialized or “musicological,” as some might say. It is absolutely accessible to anyone who would like to learn something about the era and see things from a different perspective, one they might not have considered. I hope you enjoy it. I certainly will…