Baruch Performing Arts Center
Engelman Recital Hall
55 Lexington Ave. between Lexington & Third Aves.
Saturday, November 1, $25, 8:00
www.baruch.cuny.edu
www.eunbikimmusic.com
One of the greatest living novelists in the world, Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s intoxicating prose flows like music. A jazz aficionado, he even named one of his earliest books Norwegian Wood, after the Beatles song, while the massive IQ84 is like an opera itself. The title of his latest novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (Knopf, August 2014, $26.95), is in part inspired by Franz Liszt’s Years of Pilgrimage suite. As Haida and Tsukuru listen to Liszt’s “Le mal du pays,” Tsukuru asks, “Who’s the pianist here?” to which Haida responds, “ A Russian, Lazar Berman. When he plays Liszt it’s like he’s painting a delicately imagined landscape. Most people see Liszt’s piano music as more superficial, and technical. Of course, he has some tricky pieces, but if you listen very carefully to his music you discover a depth to it that you don’t notice at first.” The same can be said for Murakami’s books; many of his protagonists give mini-dissertations on music, and while The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore are more difficult narratives, the deceptive simplicity of Norwegian Wood and After Dark contains layers of complexities. On November 1 at 8:00, New York City-based pianist Eunbi Kim will bring “Murakami Music: Stories of Loss and Nostalgia” to the Baruch Performing Arts Center, a multidisciplinary evening of music based on Murakami’s writings, along with excerpts from his work performed by actress Laura Yumi Snell. Part of Kim’s Murakami Music Project, the sixty-minute show, presented by the Long Island City art gallery Resobox, is directed by Kira Simring and includes performances of Schumann’s Forest Scenes, Op. 82; “Norwegian Wood”; Chopin’s Etude, Op. 25, No. 1; Mozart’s Sonata in B flat Major, K. 333; Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 2 in d minor, Op. 14; Nat King Cole’s “South of the Border” and “Pretend”; Grieg’s Norwegian Dance, Op. 35; and Kim’s own “Kafka on the Shore.” Kim will be joined by David Kjar on saxophone and Jeff Koch on upright bass. Meanwhile, Murakami fans are in for an extra treat this year, as his next album — er, book — the illustrated short story The Strange Library, is due from Knopf on December 2, featuring another marvelous album cover — er, book design — by Chip Kidd.